Let's Give Them Something to Talk About
by KayKayeLLe
Summary: Added an extra chapterthing to this. Story sum: Mary and Wilson get pregnant in their teens and encounter obstacles of gigantic proportions.
1. Chapter One

***Disclaimer: I do not own 7th Heaven or any of the characters in this story. They belong to, as always, the ever talented Aaron Spelling as well as 

Brenda and Co. Title taken from the song by Bonnie Raitt.

**Setting:** OK, it's second season, towards the end of the school year…maybe May-ish. Mary's 15 and Wilson is 18. 

Lets Give Them Something to Talk About 

Mary stormed of out of the church not stopping to look back at her family. She couldn't stand do be in there anymore. Church was for good people, the righteous, and she was no longer either of those; not after the inexcusable sin she had committed just three weeks ago.

Mary ran fast without thinking of the consequences of her actions. Now everyone would know that something was up with her, and she would be confronted with endless talks until they dragged out all the details. "Well not this time," she thought as she pushed open the front doors of the church.

Her eyes filled with tears and her vision blurred with the added moisture. Three steps out the door, she ran right into someone. They caught her with their arms as Mary apologized profusely.

"Its all right," the unidentified person responded with a giggle. "Now, why did you run out here?"

Mary pulled away from the person, who had wrapped her in their arms, a man she had concluded, and she rubbed the tears from her eyes. She looked at the face of the person in front of her and recognized him immediately. It was Wilson, the only person who could comfort her right now. Mary re-buried her head into his chest, giving up to her attempt to compose herself.

"What's wrong?" he asked while softly rubbing her back.

"No, you first," she protested. "Why are you out here and not inside?"

"I was afraid to come in. I wanted to see you, but I was scared you'd hate me," he confessed.

Mary wrapped her arms fully around Wilson. "I don't hate you."

"It's just that-"

"Hey," she interrupted him, "it takes two to tango."

"I know, but-"

Lucy came out of the church and cut off Wilson.

"Oh, sorry," she said upon seeing the two of them hugging. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I just came to find out if Mary's all right."

"She's fine," Wilson answered. "We were just talking."

"You sure? Because I know she doesn't just run out of church for no reason."

"I'm fine Luce," Mary said glaring at her sister.

Lucy nodded and went back inside the church looking defeated.

"Great, now the whole town is going to know I'm out here with you," Mary told Wilson, sounding more cynical than ever. "Now what were you saying before?"

"I was saying that I feel badly. I should have stopped us from going as far as we did. I'm older than you, and more importantly, I care about you very much Mary. I should have been looking out for you. What we did was not right and no matter what you say I take full responsibility for it."

Mary's eyes immediately shot down to the ground. She pulled her arms away from him and crossed them firmly over her chest. "We need to talk," she told him in a serious, monotone voice.

"Yeah, we do," he agreed. "Could we talk now or do you want to go back inside?"

"You couldn't get me back in there if you paid me." Wilson laughed at Mary's remark, although she was being quite frank. "I don't want to talk out in the open, though. Is you car here?"

Wilson nodded and took Mary's hand into his. As the two of them walked to the parked Volvo, Wilson squeezed her hand ever so slightly, and stared at her with loving eyes. The naïve look on Wilson's face told Mary that this was not going to be easy. She just hoped he wouldn't run away from her, or worse yet have some sort a mental breakdown as a result of their conversation.

They climbed into the back seat, and sat Mary shifting her hands nervously. Inside her head, she was searching for the right words to convey the information to Wilson that would change both of their lives forever. He stopped her hands from fidgeting, placing his on top of her shaky ones. She looked deep into his eyes, and Wilson could see how nervous she was.

"Do you have something you want to tell me?" he asked apprehensively.

Mary nodded. "Wilson…I…gosh I can't say it."

"Say what?"

"Wilson I'm pregnant," she blurted out before she started hysterically crying.

He blankly stared back at Mary with disbelief. "What?" he said almost in a whisper. Wilson sincerely thought he was hallucinating. She couldn't be pregnant- he couldn't have made this same inexcusable mistake twice. When she saw his reaction, Mary started to bawl uncontrollably. 

"I'm sorry!" she cried out although her voice was muffled by her sobs. "I'm so, so sorry Wilson!"

Wilson reached out to Mary and brought her close to him. He stroked the back of her hair lightly as she cried on his shoulder. "Shh…shh…it's ok. I'll think of something, don't you worry."

"Like what?" she asked pulling away from him.

"I don't know yet," he said with all honesty, "but the first thing we have to do is tell our parents."

Mary continued to cry even louder; she knew he was right. She just couldn't imagine telling her parents that she was pregnant. This must be a mistake. The clinic must have told her wrong.

"Wait," Wilson said out of the clear blue. "Are you sure?"

"I went to the doctor."

"How did you do that?"

"I took the public bus to the free clinic down on North Street, and then I went back 3 days later for the results."

"How could they- I mean, are you sure your parents have no idea?"

"I'm pretty sure they don't. They would have said something to me- I'm sure of it."

"OK, then when are we going to tell them?"

"Can we tell your parents first?" she asked leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Uh…" Wilson paused for a second. "That might not be a good idea."

Before Mary could say another word, the church doors opened. Worshippers poured out from the building, stopping the two of them in their tracks. Mary looked toward Wilson, giving him a "Now what?" look, but he just shrugged. She rubbed her eyes when she heard a loud knock on the window behind her. Mary turned around to see her mother. She rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car.

"Are you OK?" Annie asked Mary.

"Yeah, I'm all right," she lied.

"If you say so. Your father and I want to have a talk with you when we get home, so why don't you go get in our car?"

Mary glanced over at Wilson as her mind raced for a solution. "Could Wilson come back with us?" she said when she turned back to her mother.

"I don't know Mary…"

"Please Mom," she begged, "I finished all of my homework."

"I'll have to check with your father," Annie replied, having a feeling that Mary had an ulterior motive.

"Thank you Mrs. Camden," Wilson said.

"It's nothing definite yet."

"I know, but thank you anyways."

Annie smiled at him and walked away. Wilson grabbed onto Mary's hand and looked into her eyes. He could tell by looking at her that she was scared- a different scared than she had ever felt before. Mary looked so vulnerable and so afraid that Wilson didn't know what to do with her. He squeezed her hand, hoping to comfort her. Wilson looked on as Mary eyes journeyed down to the church pavement and tears rolled down her already damp cheeks. "What have I done?" Wilson thought to himself. "_What_ have I done?"


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. It means a lot to me that people actually like the things I write. I hope you guys like the chapter; I think it came out OK.  Again, thanks for all the comments!

Three and a half hours later, Mary and Wilson were sitting alone in her bedroom. They were trying to talk about the "important things", as Wilson referred to them, but weren't really getting anywhere. Wilson seemed so much like an open book to Mary, and that made her uncomfortable. They were discussing things that she wasn't ready to discuss yet- money, jobs, school- things Mary hadn't even thought about and didn't plan to. 

As she sat there, though, and watched Wilson talk, she couldn't help but notice all of the feelings that kept creeping up inside of her. Every time Wilson moved his lips, all she could think about doing was kissing him. Not out of lust, she determined, but out of love. Mary felt like she was falling head over heels, gaga in love with Wilson West. Now that she was having his baby, though, she didn't know what to make of her mature feelings.

"So, do you want to tell your parents today?"

"Huh?" Mary said snapping out of it.

"Your parents- do you want to tell them today?"

"I…I want to tell Lucy first," she told him with a firm voice. After hours of silent deliberation that is what Mary had decided she wanted. Even before Mary knew she was pregnant, Mary knew that she was going to tell Lucy that she had lost her virginity.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" she asked him, taken aback by how quickly he shot down her plan.

"We should tell everyone at once."

"But-"

"Trust me. I really think it would cause less heartache for your whole family if we did it that way."

Those lips- they had Mary at "trust me". "Sure," she responded, and the two of them were off to round up Annie, Eric, Matt, and Lucy.

The four Camdens were all seated before Mary and Wilson ten minutes later, all of them eagerly awaiting Mary's announcement. Lucy watched Mary as she stood in front of her. She kept shifting her weight from one leg to another and darting her eyes at Wilson's face and at the floor.

"Mary, are you going to barf or something? You look pale," Lucy commented, trying to urge her sister to get on with it.

"I'm not going to barf," she said, "I just-"

Wilson puts his hand on the small of Mary's back. The touch stopped her voice and sent shivers up her spine.

"Is everything OK then Mare?" Annie asked. "You've been acting weird lately."

"No, everything's not OK." She took Wilson's hand and stared into his eyes. He nodded and she turned back to her family. "Wilson and I…we…uh…" Mary put her head down in shame. She started to cry uncontrollably and her voice refused to come out. "I'm sorry I can't," she finally managed to say, mostly to Wilson rather than anyone else.

"Mary, whatever it is…" Lucy said.

Surprisingly, that was all the coaxing Mary needed. "I-I'm pregnant."

All of the Camdens went pale. Lucy's jaw dropped and so did Matt's. 

"I'm sorry," Eric said minutes later after the shock wore off, "you're what?"

"Pregnant," Mary said with a solid voice.

"Is Wilson the father?" Annie asked.

Wilson just nodded. Matt quickly became enraged. He shot up from the couch and walked over to Mary and Wilson. "I can't believe you," Matt said looking Mary in the eye, "or you," he said to Wilson. "You're lucky I'm going to let you breathe another second." Matt ran off and up the stairs, pounding loudly as he went along.

"What he said and more," Eric said firmly. "Get the hell out of my house." Wilson nodded and went towards the door. "Don't you ever, EVER, come anywhere near my daughter again, you hear me?!"

Wilson walked out the front door, leaving Mary alone with her parents. 

"How could you?" her father asked looking at Mary. "How could you do this?"

Annie took Eric's hand, and they both scurried out of the living room. Only Lucy was left sitting in front of Mary still stunned.

"Go ahead," Mary said to Lucy. "Yell at me like everyone else. You know you want to- heck, I want to yell at me."

Lucy got up and walked over to Mary. She wrapped her arms around her sister's shaking body and pulled her in tightly.

"I love you," Lucy said to Mary. "I'm here for you Mary, and, unlike everyone else, I'm not mad. Come on, let's go upstairs and talk."

Lucy guided Mary up the stairs, as Mary wept silently. As she turned at the top of the stairs to her bedroom, a horrible thought went through her mind. Wilson. "What if Dad wasn't just a little angry?" she thought. "What if he's serious? He can't take Wilson away from me, I need him. And I…I love him. I need my Wilson."


	3. Chapter Three

**(A/N: Just to let you know, this is not going to be one of those sappy teenage pregnancy stories…believe me. Although that may seem like the underlying plot, there will eventually be a MAJOR twist to it, involving arrest and a court trial and all of that good stuff. Look for that starting 2 or 3 chapters from now!!!**

**And I don't think I ever explained about the title. I just wanted to say that it was inspired by an episode of American Idol. …Just thought that might be interesting. )**

Mary and Lucy talked the rest of the night away. They discussed everything that's happened with Mary in the past month, from how she decided to have sex to if she wants to give birth to a boy or a girl. Lucy tried her best to keep the conversation as light as possible, but it was really hard considering the topic. She could tell as they talked, though, that Mary was holding back from her. She wasn't telling her the whole story, but 20 minutes into the conversation Lucy got used to Mary frequently changing the subject.

By 11:30, the two of them were exhausted, not to mention they both had school in the morning. They got ready for bed like they always did- put on their warm weather pajamas and brushed their teeth. When Mary was coming back from the bathroom, her parents stopped her in the hallway. They told her they would have a long talk when she got home the next day, and Mary nodded nervously. She couldn't resist, no matter how much she wanted to. In retrospect though, she had no reason to feel like she wanted to flee the country- not now. The worst of it was out; her parents knew she was pregnant. 

Mary got into bed, said good night to Lucy, and turned off the light on the nightstand. She tried desperately to go to sleep, but she couldn't. Her thoughts were keeping her up into the wee hours of the night. As she lay there partially awake at 3:56 in the morning, she could have sworn she heard a faint tapping sound at her window. After about the sixth time she heard the noise, Mary got up and looked out the windowpane. She saw Wilson in her backyard with a handful of rocks. Quickly but silently, she ran down the stairs and out of the house. She met Wilson in the yard and he looked disgruntled.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Well, it's a long story. I hate to ask, considering everything and all, but could I spend the night? All I want to do is sleep in my car in your driveway."

Mary shook her head. "Not unless you tell me why you're here."

"Tomorrow- it's late."

"No, now," she said resolutely.

"Well, I was in my bedroom, about two hours ago, and my dad came in to tell me to go to bed. He noticed that I was, well, upset, and he asked me what was wrong."

Mary quickly picked up on Wilson's careful choice of words. "Were you crying?"

"No, not crying," he said trying to preserve his pride.

"Oh, ok," said playfully. "If that's what you say."

"Anyways," he said rolling his eyes at her, "I cracked and I told him about you."

"And?" Mary asked nervously.

"And he kicked me out of the house. He said I have disgraced the family beyond belief, and he doesn't want me living under the same roof as him and my mother. I'm not allowed to go back home."

"What about Billy?" 

"I…uh…I don't know right now. My dad wouldn't let me take him with me. He screamed some stuff about not letting me corrupt him- that he's only a child and he deserves better than me."

"That's awful," Mary responded. All Wilson did was nod. It was late, and both of them had had a long day, so Mary decided to wrap this up as quickly as possible. "I'll tell you what. Don't sleep in your car. Come inside and sleep on the couch," she suggested.

"But you're dad-"

"I'll wake you up before he gets up and you can sneak out if you have to."

"All right," Wilson complied out of sheer exhaustion. "Thank you."

Mary took Wilson inside, got him some blankets, and set him up on the couch.

"Good night," she said, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"'Night and thanks again," he replied.

"Its my pleasure."

"Are you positive this is all right?"

"Look, I wouldn't have you wandering the streets. And even though you're not my dad's favorite person right now, he wouldn't have that either. Now just sleep and don't worry about this stuff," she said smiling.

Wilson said ok, and Mary went upstairs and back to bed. Still, she could not sleep. All that was on her mind was Wilson. She wasn't even thinking about the child within her, or that her baby's father could seriously be homeless- only her boyfriend.

She crept into the living room and sat down on the coffee table in front of Wilson's sleeping body. She stared at him and watched as he peacefully slept before her. She wondered if he was dreaming, what he was dreaming about, and why she always wore the pants in their relationship more days than not. Mary noticed his hand slung off the couch, and she picked it up. He came to, due to the motion, and stared up at Mary.

"Do I have to go?" he mumbled.

"Oh, no," she said laughing. "I was just watching you sleep."

"And why were you doing that? You should be sleeping yourself."

"I couldn't go back to sleep and I wanted to be close to you, so here I am," she said sounding satisfied with her response.

"The last time you wanted to be close-"

"No, no, no," Mary protested. "I just want to sit here with you. I feel lonely," she said quietly.

"Lonely huh?" Wilson said sitting up. "I can fix that." Wilson put his hands on Mary's waist and pulled her onto his lap. She leaned her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Wilson, I was thinking," Mary said.

"That's never good."

Mary huffed and hit his arm playfully. "As I was saying," she began again, "did your dad really kick you out?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"For good, or was he just angry?"

"I really think he meant it. There was something about the way he said it- you'd have to know my dad to understand."

"Oh, OK. Was he serious about Billy, too? Can he do that?"

"I was thinking about that while I was in my car before. It would be better for him to live with my parents. My dad was right, I am a screw-up, and he deserves better than that."

"You are not a screw-up, and you deserve to be with your son."

"I really think it's for the best Mare," he said unyieldingly. 

"So that's it? You're just leaving Billy there?"

"I guess…I-I don't know."

Mary paused for a while, but then pushed onward. "What about college?"

"Crawford-scholarship, I told you already."

"That's right I remember now."

"Where are you going to live then?"

"I guess I'm going to have to get an apartment or something."

"Maybe you could live here," Mary said extemporaneously. She really wanted him in the same house as her so they could do this "having-a-baby" thing right. Besides, she wouldn't mind having him watch over her all the time.

"Is there any room here?"

Mary laughed and so did Wilson. "We could make room."

"I don't know Mare. You're parents…"

"…Don't even know I asked you, so don't get your hopes up."

Wilson smiled, but eventually it faded away. "Are you scared?" he asked Mary.

"Scared of what?"

"Of being pregnant."

"No, I'm not scared. I'm petrified. I don't think I can do this, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to do it alone."

"You won't be alone- I'm not going to leave you."

"I don't think you're going to leave me, I think my parents are going to make you stay as far away from me as possible."

"And you wanted me to move in here."

Mary rolled her eyes at Wilson, and he kissed her lightly on the cheek.


	4. Chapter Four

(A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I'm really happy with the response I'm getting from this story. Sorry I haven't updated in a while!)

Five days later, Mary and Wilson had finally come up with a plan that was supposed to last them the rest of their lives. Wilson was going to go to school and get a job to support the baby, and eventually Mary. Wilson made it very clear to Mary that she was not to drop out of school at any cost, and was to go back as soon as she could after the baby was born. Mary's education was one of their top priorities- for everyone except Mary that is. She wasn't looking forward to going to school, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter. Wilson didn't want her working, at least not until she graduated high school. They asked Eric and Annie if they would help them take care of the baby so that they could attempt to stick to this plan for as long as they could, and with a little coaxing they agreed. Wilson was going to get a job, and give Annie his full paycheck. She was going to use her accounting skills to set up a savings plan for the two of them and a "room and board" payment schedule for Wilson.

It was now Saturday, and things were starting to shift at the Camden house. Annie was being overly nice to the pair, whereas Eric was being too harsh. All Lucy ever wanted to do was talk with Mary, and Mary was getting sick of discussing baby names she liked. Simon and Ruthie were, well, Simon and Ruthie. They were too young to understand, although Simon knew what was going on wasn't at all good. 

Everything seemed to be more or less all right with the Camdens, except for Matt. He resented the fact that his parents let Wilson move into the house. When they asked him to let Wilson sleep on the floor of the attic, Matt slept downstairs on the couch.  The two of them had had their good share of screaming fits, most of them resulting in Mary ripping Matt's hands away from Wilson's throat. 

Their constant bickering was making the whole family stressed, especially Mary. She hated to see the two of them fighting, especially when Wilson was, in all honesty, no more at fault than she was. Every time she heard Matt raise his voice, she knew that he should really be yelling at her. And she could tell that Matt wanted to yell at her, but couldn't see how his baby sister could have done what she did. Basically, during the last five days, Matt broke Mary's heart and Wilson tried to mend it. 

The continuous swings of emotion were not good for the pregnant teen. The added stress gave her a constant stomachache, and she was starting to get worried. She was actually hoping for morning sickness to alleviate some of her stomach pain, but no such luck yet. Mary didn't dare tell Wilson, though, because he would go ballistic. He meant well, but he was smothering her to the point that she didn't want to tell him anything anymore.

When Mary got up that morning, the house was unusually quiet- and unusually quiet always meant trouble in the Camden house. She rolled over to talk to Lucy, only to find that she wasn't there. Thinking this was odd, Mary went downstairs to gather some more information.

Mary entered the kitchen to find no one in there either. She was starting to get a little creeped out, so she went to scope out the rest of the downstairs. Mary walked past her father's office, and heard Matt in there talking with Eric. She knew this was no ordinary conversation by listening to their monotone voices, and she felt that they were probably talking about her. Mary continued walking and went into the living room. She was shocked to find the whole family in there, including Wilson.

"What's going on?" she asked everyone.

"Matt called a family meeting," her mother responded. "Sit."

Mary sat down in the empty spot on the couch next to Wilson and he took her hand.

"Is everything OK?" she asked again, looking into Lucy's eyes. She knew that Lucy couldn't lie if her life depended on it, but Mary was only met with simple shrug of the shoulders.

"I hope so," said Annie.

Wilson gently rubbed Mary's back as they all waited for Matt and Eric to come in. Mary felt like crying, again the flood of emotions made her uncomfortable. She leaned against Wilson, using the warmth from his body to comfort her. One thing he was good about, she had to admit, was touching her. Public displays of affection were never an issue with Wilson- he wouldn't even like to kiss her if someone else was in the room.

As Mary began to contemplate when their relationship went awry, Eric walked in all in a tizzy. The whole room stopped to look at him as he pushed Mary and Wilson apart and sat down in between the two of them. Matt walked in after Reverend Camden sat down, and he did not look happy.

"I have an announcement to make," he said to his family. "I'm moving out."

"What?" Annie said in a state of utter confusion. "Why?"

"A lot of reasons, but mostly because of you and Dad. Mary's pregnant, and what do you do? You take her sleazy boyfriend under your wing and tell him he can live with us. I feel like I'm in some sort of twisted universe and I need to escape. And as long as the two of you aren't going to act like the Reverend Eric Camden and Annie Camden, then I can't live here anymore. I got a job at a convenience store paying a little over minimum wage, and I was lucky enough to get a disgraceful apartment off campus"

"But school-"

"There's nothing you can do to change my mind. I'm gone. I just have one thing to say to the two of you," Matt said looking in the direction of Mary and Wilson. "You are so lucky that my overly-gracious family is giving you a second chance. I don't know why though; this is going to be your second child and you're only 18. The thought of you being with my sister literally makes me sick. How dare you! But, you know, I guess it's what I should expect. You can see it in the way you look at Mary, you have sex on the brain! And you Mary, it just figures. Out of everyone you would definitely be the one I'd say would get pregnant. You were always the type to be physical with a guy. Despite your hard outer covering you're weak, and this has certainly proven it."

Wilson stood up and went towards Matt, his face inches from the fuming Camden. "You can say whatever you want about me," he said staring straight into Matt's eyes. "I deserve it. But once you talk about Mary you've crossed the line. How dare I? How dare _you_!" Wilson tried to stare Matt down, but Matt decided to get rough. He shoved Wilson away from him. Wilson stood their staring at Matt, his ego bruised but not destroyed.

"If you think I'm so wrong then why don't you defend yourself?" Matt said shoving Wilson again.

That was it; they both were finally pushed to their breaking points. The whole six days had come to a head, and they let their anger and frustration out on each other. Matt tackled Wilson to the ground, his head nearly missing the corner of the coffee table. They rolled around, hitting each other as the whole family watched on in horror. Eric got up and was able to pull Matt off of Wilson. The two of them stood up and brushed themselves off. 

Mary sprang up off the couch, tears streaming down her face, and ran past them up the stairs. Lucy ran after her, followed by Wilson, and Matt went out he front door with his suitcase.

Lucy pounded on the door of the bedroom the two of them had shared for almost all of their lives. "Mary! Let me in! Come on!"

Wilson put his hand on Lucy's shoulder to silence her. "Let me try," he said as he knocked lightly. "Mare, can I come in for a second?"

Three seconds later, the two of them could hear Mary unlocking the door. It swung open, and from behind it came Mary's hand. She pulled Wilson inside, and quickly locked the door again. She slumped down on the bed, turning her back toward Wilson.

"Come, on," he said. "Don't be like this. Talk to me."

"You want to talk?" she said calmly. "Let's talk about why you picked a fight with my brother."

"I was sticking up for you."

"I don't need anyone to stick up for me. I can take care of myself," she responded heatedly.

"I know you can," he said putting his hand on the small of Mary's back. "But it just made me so mad to hear him talk about you like that, about us like that."

"If you keep doing everything for me like that there might not be an 'us'. Got it?"

"Yes. Now let's go downstairs so everyone doesn't make a big deal about this whole thing."

"But it is a big deal," she told him. "As big a deal as me getting pregnant. I feel so guilty. I've torn my family apart."

"No you haven't," he said trying to reassure her.

"Yes I have. You can't honestly say I haven't ruined them and mean it." 

Wilson didn't say anything. 

"Exactly," she says sounding defeated. "I don't know, maybe I should get an abortion."

"What?" Wilson said sounding offended. "Mare, calm down, please."

"It's just…everything is such a mess right now. I feel like everything is spinning out of control. I want it to stop spinning. How do I make it stop?"

Mary started to sob and Wilson held her. He whispered reassuring things to her, but it didn't make her feel any better. She finally composed herself and looked up at Wilson. "How much pain are we going to have to cause everyone else before things return back to normal?"


	5. Chapter Five

School has finally let out, and things are finally starting to settle down at the Camden home. Wilson had found his place for at least the next seven months - at 12-week pregnant Mary's side. Catering to her every whim was his pleasure, considering everything his idiocy has put her through. It was not all bad, though. Occasionally, Mary would get very affectionate, or "lovey-dovey" as Wilson liked to refer to it.

The back porch was their special place at night. They would come there every evening and look up at the night sky, admiring the twinkling stars as they discussed their day with one another. It was their way of venting their teenage angst to each other calmly and constructively.

On this particular night, Mary was not saying much, which usually meant she had a lot to talk about.

"You're not talking. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Mary said still gazing up at the stars. "I'm just thinking, that's all."

"Thinking about what?"

"It's nothing; it's stupid."

"So? I still want to know," he said placing his arms around her.

"You're coming with me to the doctor tomorrow, right?"

"Definitely. I'll be right there next to you."

Mary looked into Wilson's eyes, petrified. 

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I'm scared to go," she said still look intently into his eyes.

"You're scared of doctors?"

"No, not doctors…just _that_ doctor," she confessed.

"Oh," Wilson said turning a slight shade of red. "But haven't you been before?"

"Well, not really. When they told me I was pregnant, it was from a blood test."

"Well…uh…don't worry. I'm sure everything will be fine. Don't worry about it."

"But I _am_ worried about it," she said with unwavering conviction.

Wilson looked at her dumbfounded. "I don't know what to say to you."

"Forget it then. I'm tired; I'm going to bed. Good night." Mary got up and walked inside the house, leaving Wilson alone on the porch.

The next morning, Wilson wanted to do something to make Mary feel more at ease and, most importantly, not mad about his lack of a response last night. She usually slept until 10:30…maybe 11:00 in the morning. That gave him time to execute his plan. First thing he had to do was get Lucy out of the bedroom. After that, he locked the door sat down on Lucy's bed and waited for Mary to get up. There really wasn't a step three just yet; he figured he would just play everything from then on by ear. 

Mary woke up about seven minutes after Wilson sat down. She rolled over to face the wall, mumbled something, and threw the blankets off of her. Wilson could tell that she was awake by that. He sat down on Mary's bed, startling her so much that she nearly fell off the bed.

"What are you doing here?"

"Three reasons. One, I wanted to be with you. Two, I came to apologize. And three, I have an idea." Wilson lied down next to Mary, but she sat straight up.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Nothing," he said taking her hand.

Mary rolled her eyes at Wilson and he started to get frustrated with her. That was until he noticed something; for the first time in about a month, Wilson got a good look at Mary. A real look at her- taking in her presence, her beauty, her form. She was truly a stunning sight to behold. He grabbed Mary's hand once more, and looked straight into her eyes.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's…I…uh…you're beautiful," he said softly.

"Excuse me?"

"You're beautiful Mare, and I don't tell you enough. You know how much I care about you, right?"

Mary looked at him strangely. "Am I dying or something?"

"No, never mind."

"Ok. And you don't have to apologize about last night. You didn't do anything to upset me, I was mad at myself. But let's not talk about that right now." The expression on Mary's face went from lighthearted to serious in two seconds flat. "I have something I want to show you."

"All right," Wilson said, inside scared as to what was Mary was about to unveil.

Mary laid down on the bed beneath her, and slightly lifted oversized nightshirt. Underneath her shirt was her rounded stomach. It was becoming quite apparent that Mary would not be able to hide the fact that she was having a child any longer. She took Wilson's hand and placed it on her warm skin, and rubbed it over her lower abdomen. Against Mary's will, her emotions got the best of her. Tears rolled from her eyes without her consent as she looked up at Wilson. Catching Mary off guard, Wilson bent down and lightly pressed his lips against Mary's stomach, and then kissed Mary's lips.

Mary took Wilson's arm and wrapped it around her as she laid down on her side. "This still seems so surreal," she said to him earnestly. 

He held her close to him, thinking desperately about what to do next. "Well, you know it isn't good for you to just sit around and feel sorry for yourself. Why don't we go have breakfast?" he offered.

"I'm not that hungry, but I could have some orange juice I guess."

"That's the spirit," Wilson replied smiling.

Wilson and Mary trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen where Mrs. Camden was cleaning. 

"Ah, good afternoon," Mrs. Camden said upon seeing them.

"Its not that late," Mary shot back as she walked to the refrigerator and got out the fruit drink. Wilson walked up behind her, and she leaned against him.

"Are you OK?" Wilson whispered so Annie wouldn't hear.

"I don't know," she said back digging her head into his chest.

Wilson reached up and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. "Drink your juice and then...well...I have an idea."

"Should I be scared?" she asked him.

"That depends," he countered raising an eyebrow. 

Mary smiled, and after she got her "light breakfast", the two of them sat down at the kitchen table. Mary continued to hang all over Wilson, and Annie did not like this one bit. She stopped her cleaning and sat across from them.

"So…" she said, trying to think of something to say. "How's life?" Mary just glared back at her mother. "Sorry," Annie added, "I shouldn't have said that."

Mary leaned her head on Wilson's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her.

"Wilson," Annie said quickly, still determined to keep their hormones at bay by striking up a conversation. "How's everything going with you? How do you like it here with us? All the commotion getting to you yet?"

"No, not at all," he said. "I enjoy living here, and I am very grateful that you took me in. I don't know where I'd be right now if it weren't for you're kind hospitality."

Annie was not listening to Wilson's response; her eyes were fixed on Mary. Seeing that her daughter was not going to even acknowledge the fact that she was in the room, she politely excused herself and left the room. 

Mary finished her drink and turned toward Wilson. "Now what?"

"Well, I was thinking we could spend some quality time together."

"That'd be nice," she said with an innocent smile.

Wilson took Mary's hand and the two of them walked out the back door. They strolled around the backyard for a while, before finally settling on a place to hold each other- the side of the house. Mary thought this spot was perfect- you could walk out the back door and not know that anyone was out there. Finally she had found the privacy she had so craved to have with Wilson ever since she first met him. 

Wilson leaned his back against the side of the house and held Mary to him. Mary's head laid on his brawny chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat and feeling his chest rise and fall with every breath. Wilson had his arms around Mary's waist, and the two of them stayed this way for nearly two hours. 

Mary's feet were starting to get tried from standing for so long, and she shifted her weight onto her other foot. As she moved, her and Wilson's eyes met. Wilson leaned down and kissed Mary lips ardently. His tongue gently entered her mouth, overtaking the kiss with his passion for her. This kiss was like no other Mary had received before, and she pulled away from Wilson before he could finish. She took his arms away from her waist and walked out into the middle of the backyard. 

Wilson, so confused by what had happened, watched her walk away before he reacted. "What's wrong?" he finally asked as he followed Mary. 

He caught up with her, and put his hand on her arm. She turned to face Wilson and pulled his arm away from her.

"What?" he asked. "What did I do?"

"Don't kiss me like that," she commanded.

"Why? Did you not like it?"

"No…just promise me you won't kiss me like that," she said with tears in her eyes.

"OK," Wilson said still utterly bemused by her actions.

Before he knew it, Mary ran off inside the house. He waited a second as everything registered in his mind and then followed her inside. He entered the kitchen to find Mrs. Camden in the room.

"What's wrong? Mary just ran upstairs crying."

"I really don't know," Wilson responded. "One second she was fine and the next she wasn't. Do you think I should go and talk to her?"

"I don't know, maybe give her some time."

Wilson sat down at the island and the kitchen and put his head in his hands to think for a moment. He really had no idea what he had done wrong. The only thing he could think of was that it might have something to do with her doctor's appointment.

"Mrs. Camden, what time is Mary's appointment?"

"Um, in a bout a half an hour. You better get going in a couple of minutes."

Wilson nodded and went upstairs to get Mary. He knocked gently at her bedroom door, and could hear her crying quietly through the wood between them. She didn't respond to him, so he decided to use a verbal approach.

"Mare, can I come in for a second?"

He heard her sniffle, and he took that as a "yes". Wilson opened the white door to the bedroom and went and sat down on her bed next to her. 

"I still don't know what I did," he confessed. Mary did not respond to him. "Well, we should leave pretty soon. Your appointment is in less than 30 minutes."

She nodded and walked out of the room without waiting for Wilson. He shook his head, and walked out to his car in Mary's shadow. Wilson went to the car, and got in next to Mary. He could tell that she was upset, and was trying to keep tears from falling.

"I'm not trying to push you or anything like that," Wilson said in a calm and rational voice, "but will you please just tell me what I did?"

"That kiss," she responded.

"What about it?"

"You can't kiss me like that. I don't feel comfortable being with you with those intentions right now. I'm trying to take some responsibility for my actions, and I don't feel like I can do that if we're kissing like that. The two of us having sex was wrong, and I don't think I've quite learned that yet. That's just a little too close for me right now; it's too soon Wilson."

Wilson nodded and picked up her hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were feeling like this."

"I've felt like this for a while. It was not that kiss that made me want to change our relationship, it just reminded me to verbalize it."

"I promise that I'll try as hard as I can not to be as close with you, but I have to admit that it's very hard for me," he told her.

"I know. It's not easy for me either. But for right now it's what I want to try, OK?"

"Yes, fine. I understand completely."

"You do?" she asked him with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Really. I respect you and if that's what you want them I'm more than happy to abide by that."

"Thank you," she said back quietly. "Now drive or we are going to be late."

"Are you still scared?"

"More nervous I guess but yes. I'll be all right, though. You'll be there, and nothing is going to go wrong."

"That's the sprit," he said smiling. Wilson got the urge to lean down and kiss Mary, but he stopped himself. If abstaining from a high level of intimacy is what she wanted for right now, then that was what he was going to have to give her. Wilson would do anything to make Mary happy, and although he would not admit it to himself quite yet, it was because he was falling in love with her- the same way that Mary had already fallen in love with him.


	6. Chapter Six

(A/N: So sorry it took me so long that to type this up. I've had it written for at least 4 days, but I never felt like deciphering my hand writing and typing up 5 pages front and back of notebook paper. I have most of the next chapter written, too- well half of it at least. I'll definitely have it up by the end of this week at the latest, don't you worry.) 

A week and a half later, Mary was starting to turn more and more into the stereotypical "pregnant woman" everyday. Her moods were unpredictable, she was eating weird, and she couldn't stand to be around anyone but herself most of the time.

After another one of her "Mary's specialty" dinners- 4 mayonnaise, ketchup, Swiss cheese and green olives sandwiches, Wilson had to leave for work. He was lucky enough to become a part-time night manager at a local discount department store, and although he did not care for the hours, it paid more than if he were just a regular daytime employee. Wilson went to kiss Mary good-bye, not knowing if she would choose tonight to beg him to stay or practically throw him out of the house. 

Tonight, however, Mary did a little bit of both. While she accepted the kiss, she walked away from him without verbally saying good-bye. All day, she claimed that she was very tired, and she was heading up for bed at 6:30.

Mary entered the room to find Lucy in there reading the august issue of a popular teen magazine. Mary lied down on the bed and closed her eyes.

"This is definitely a new record," Lucy said looking at the clock. "It's not even 7 o'clock yet."

"You try having a ten pound watermelon attached to your stomach all day."

"And moody tonight, what a double joy," Lucy said as she turned the page of her magazine. "Hey Mary, maybe you should read this article." Lucy thrust the magazine in Mary's direction, and Mary picked it up. ON the page Lucy was referring to, there was a picture of a couple kissing, and above them in big red letters was the title "How to tell when 'all the way' is OK". Appalled, Mary continued turning the pages only to find that the article continued one for three more pages.

"I don't know why this article is so long," Mary stated. "I can tell you right now that it's not OK unless you're in love."

"So are you saying that is was or was not OK for you and Wilson?"

Mary shrugged her shoulders. 

"Are you in love with him?"

"That's really none of your business," she said rolling over to face the opposite direction of Lucy.

"So was that a yes then?"

"Look, if I don't love Wilson then I'm in big trouble. And _if_ I did, I wouldn't tell you before I told him."

"So you do love him? I knew it," Lucy said trying to sound smart.

"I did not say that," Mary protested. "I still have seven months to decide."

"Oh come on," Lucy said to Mary. "I can save you the trouble and tell you right now that you love him."

Mary sighed. "You're right, I do love him. The thing is I'm not sure if I'm _in_ love with him."

"What's the difference?" Lucy asked perplexed.

"If you don't know the difference then we really shouldn't be having this conversation," Mary explained to Lucy. "Now good night."

Mary rolled over and closed her eyes. Within five minutes Mary was asleep. She slept for a good four hours before Wilson awaked her.

"How was work?" she mumbled.

"Good," he whispered back, "it's getting better. I just wanted to tell you I'm home and say goodnight."

"Goodnight," Mary responded smiling.

Wilson bent down and lightly pressed his lips against hers. "Sleep well."

Wilson went upstairs to the attic bedroom and Mary went back to sleep. Her slumber did not last long, however. Around 1:00 a.m., Mary started violently tossing and turning, mumbling things loud enough to wake up the entire second floor of the household. Lucy took a stuffed animal and threw it at Mary, hitting her square in the nose. Her aim has seemed to continually get better each night Lucy did that.

Mary's eyes sprang open with the impact, and she threw the covers off of her. She laid there for three minutes before deciding to go and wake up Wilson. Mary walked upstairs and stood next to him as he slept. Her eyes started to tear and she sniffled. The noise woke Wilson up, and his eyes opened to see Mary hovering over him.

"What's wrong?" he asked sitting up. Mary didn't answer him, but her crying got more intense. "Are you OK?" he asked caressing her arms gently, hoping she would give him some sort of answer. But alas, Mary only shrugged. Wilson smiled sympathetically at Mary. "Come on, I'll tuck you back into bed."

Mary nodded and leaned against Wilson as he guided her back to her bedroom. He pulled down the sheets of her bed and covered Mary up.

"Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?"

"No, I think I'll be OK." She sits up and kisses Wilson benevolently. That in itself threw up a red flag.

"All right, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Mary expostulated, though still sounding positively weepy. "I'm fine."

"But-"

Mary cut Wilson off. "Listen to me, I'm fine."

"Are you sure, because-"

This time, it was Lucy who interrupted him. "She's sure," Lucy muttered sleepily. "Now both of you go to sleep."

"Yeah," Mary whispered, "she needs all the 'beauty rest' she can get."

Wilson laughed, and Lucy threw a pillow at both of them. Wilson kissed Mary's forehead and then left the room to go back to his.

Mary fell asleep quickly, but not before doing a quick evaluation of her relationship with Wilson. Tonight, along with most of the evenings recently, led Mary to thinking that she was a weakling. Not physically of course, but emotionally. She found herself frequently giving up on things when she thought they were too difficult to handle, and then running to Wilson for support. But before Mary could contemplate why this was, she entered a deep slumber.

That period of rest did not last as long as she would have liked it to. Mary woke up nearly two hours later in a cold sweat, panting heavily as she lay in bed staring straight up at the white ceiling. She felt so emotionally overwhelmed that she began to cry- not loudly at first but increasing in volume as the morning drew nearer.

When light started to shine through her window, Mary decided to do something. She sat upright, wrapped herself up in her comforter, and stood at the foot of her bed.

"Mary?" Lucy mumbled murmured just as she was about to make a break for it. "Where are you going?"

"No where," she answered her sister sweetly," now go back to sleep."

Lucy mumbled some garbled words as Mary exited the room. Just before she left, Mary glimpsed at the digital clock on her nightstand. 4:09- only four hours until she could wake Wilson up. "Oh well," she figured. "It's worth the wait."

*** PLEASE CONTINUE TO REVIEW! IS THIS CHAPTER STUPID? WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF IT? I HAVE A POINT TO ALL OF THIS, WHICH I DON'T WANT TO GIVE AWAY RIGHT NOW BUT IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.


	7. Chapter Seven

Mary went and sat on the stairs that led to the attic bedroom. She was going to wake Wilson up, but then decided against it. She had already woken him up once tonight- at least once every night that week for that matter, and she decided to let him sleep. He shouldn't have to suffer because her mind was too preoccupied to allow her to get any rest.

As she sat there deliberating the same subject she had been for over a month now, she started to cry. Mary couldn't help it; it was a very emotional topic.

_Do I love him? I think I do. If I'm in love with him then I have to tell him- keeping it inside is killing me. _Love_ kills. Isn't that what happened to the last girl he got pregnant?_

_But I shouldn't tell him I love him unless I truly mean it. I wouldn't want him to confess his fake love for me. So that's the first step then. I have to figure out if I really do love him._

_Now how in the world am I going to do that? Well maybe I could start by saying what I love about him. Yeah, that should work._

_I love the way he looks at me.  
I love how he protects me.  
I love it when he touches me.  
I love how he always brushes my hair off my face.  
I love the way he smells.  
I love the look he gets on his face when I do something stupid.  
I love how his eyes are the windows to his soul._

_Is that is? Well for now I guess it is. Is that enough, though? Maybe._

_Ok, so now what do I like about him?_

_I like his clothes.  
I like that he's always here for me.  
I like that he was willing to sacrifice his own privacy to live here so that he could get back in my parent's good graces.  
I like that he cares about me unconditionally._

_Ok, now what don't I like about him?_

_I don't like it when he's too controlling._

_And that's it. The pros outweigh the cons. But does that necessarily mean that I'm in love with Wilson West?_

Mary started to cry as she continued this uphill battle within herself. Whenever she came to a conclusion she would doubt herself. She must have been sitting there for a while, though, because before long she heard Wilson bustling around the bedroom.

Mary stood up, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. Wilson opened it within seconds. Mary's heart jumped when she saw him, but she just couldn't bring herself to say anything. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead, she clasped her hands together behind Wilson's neck, encompassing him with her fragile figure. Wilson hugged Mary back, but he knew something was not right with her. He decided not to say anything, though. He had pried into her life so much recently that there was no mystery between them- their relationship was beginning to go flat. Mary's eyes got teary again, and she decided to leave before she started sobbing. She lightly kissed Wilson's cheek and exited as quickly as she had entered.

Mary went back into her bedroom and to her surprise Wilson did not follow. After three minutes of waiting for him to knock on the door, she decided he was not coming- her heart sank. She started to cry again, but this time it was more intense. She was letting all of her deep-rooted emotions out. Lucy entered the bedroom, startling Mary, and questioned why her sister was once again sobbing.

"It's nothing."

"Do you want me to get Wilson?"

Please don't," Mary responded quickly.

"Are you sure about that?" Lucy asked.

"Yes."

Lucy left the room and went to find Wilson anyways. She went to his room, but he was not up there. He was not in the kitchen either. Lucy went to the living room and found him watching cartoons with Ruthie. She informed him about Mary's emotional state and he went upstairs to see Mary. Wilson knocked on the closed door.

"Who's there?" Mary asked.

"It's me. Can I come in for a second?"

"Why?"

"A little birdie told me that you're upset. Cam I do anything to help?"

"No," Mary responded rudely.

"I'd still like to try if you don't mind," Wilson said, determined to get through to her.

Three seconds later, Mary opened the door just enough to poke her head though.

"Look, I'm fine. I just want to be alone and think for a while. This isn't something you can help me with," Mary informed him.

"OK, if that's what you want."

Mary smiled. "Thank you."

Wilson walked back downstairs to the living room to find Lucy was now watching cartoons as well.

"How's Mary? Did you talk to her?" Lucy asked him.

"Long enough for her to tell me she doesn't want to talk to me."

"Oh," Lucy responded as Wilson sat down next to her. "Can I ask you something?" Lucy turned toward Ruthie and gave her a stern look.

"All right, all right. I'm going," Ruthie said as she slipped off the couch.

"What's the difference between loving someone and being in love with someone?"

"I didn't think you had a boyfriend Luce," he said.

'I don't, I was just wondering."

"OK, well, um, let me give you an example. You can love ice cream, you can love Happy, and you can love your parents. Saying you love something is more of a friendly term. But being in love- it's different. It's…" Wilson searched for the right words. "You have a passion for that person, an infatuation. There's an attachment, attraction, affection…desire, devotion…a sense of oneness. It's kind of hard to describe."

"So, do you just love Mary or are you in love with her?"

"I…uh…I don't know. I-"

Before Wilson could finish his sentence, Mary darted across the foyer and up the stairs. She was obviously listening in on Lucy and Wilson's conversation. Wilson ran to catch up with Mary, only to arrive at the bedroom just in time for Mary to close the door in his face. He opened it right back up, however, and Mary glared back at him.

"Will you please just leave me alone?" she sad loudly.

"Not until you tell me what's bothering you."

In a moment of sanity, Mary calmed down a bit. "Look, I don't ant to yell at you. It's just not open for discussion yet."

"Soon?"

Mary shrugged her shoulders. "I guess."

Wilson kissed the top of Mary's head and she turned a light shade of red. He left the room, and Mary could not stop smiling. He just thought he was so wonderful that there was no reason to wipe the grin off her face,

It was then that Mary decided she was in love with him. The only question now was when to tell him. She thought about just going up and telling him, but that did not seem right. She wanted it to be special and romantic, like the way it always was in those movies Lucy watched constantly. If she didn't have love like that, she figured, love was not worth having. 

Mary rolled over onto her side, praying that Wilson would come back through the door and sweep her off her feet. However, getting very little sleep last night was starting to catch up with her, and Mary fell asleep waiting for Wilson to be her Romeo. As she slept, Mary was greeted with peaceful dreams. These dreams were in contrast with the ones she had been having recently- dreams of happy thoughts rather than ones of screaming children and being abandoned in a dark and cold alleyway. 

Around noontime, Wilson nudged Mary awake. 

"I hate to make you get up, you look so peaceful, but everyone is downstairs having lunch. Would you like something?"

"No," she replied as she rubbed her eyes. "I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure? I can make you something special," Wilson coaxed.

"No, that's OK. I'm fine."

Wilson took her hand in his and rubbed it gently. "Go back to sleep then," he said soothingly.

Mary wanted to tell Wilson right then and there, but the timing was all wrong. She needed it to be better than that- exceptional, extraordinary. Mary did follow Wilson's orders, however, and go back to sleep. She woke up later to find Lucy shuffling about in the room.

"Is it raining out?" she asked as she lay motionless in her bed.

"Yeah, pretty hard actually," Lucy replied.

"What time is it?" she asked Lucy as she began to wake up. 

"Um…around 10:00 I think."

"At night?" Mary asked flabbergasted.

Lucy laughed. "Yes, at night. Oh, that reminds me. Wilson left for work a while ago. He's not going to be home until at least 11 or 11:15 though because he's working a shift and a half or something like that." 

Mary nodded in response. 

Lucy sat down on her bed opposite Mary. "What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing is 'going on' with us," Mary replied.

"Then why did you stay locked up in here all day?"

"I wasn't locked in here I was sleeping. I was tired. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," Lucy said. "But you have to admit that you both have one strange relationship."

"Why do you say that?" Mary asked, genuinely wanting to hear Lucy's response.

"One day you're mad at each other, the next day you're all over him, then the next day you sleep…and then it starts all over again."

"Do you think we fight a lot?" Mary questioned Lucy.

"For a pregnant teen-aged couple? No," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. It's just that you're both under a lot of stress and sometimes that can come out as anger. But I'm not with you all of the time. Maybe you don't fight as much as I think you do."

Mary just shook her head at Lucy. "I'm going downstairs."

Lucy nodded and Mary got up and left. She went into the living room and turned on the television, turning down the volume as to not disturb the rest of the house. The ten o'clock news was on, and Mary curled up on the couch with a blanket. Again, she dozed off for a little while. About a half an hour later, the rainstorm was getting more intense. Lighting struck close by, shaking the entire house and waking Mary up in the process. She awoke just in time to hear the loud boom of the thunder to seemingly roll through the living room. 

Mar focused on the T.V. a few feet away form her. The news was still on, and the clock in the right-hand corner of the screen told her it was not yet 11 o'clock. The reporter on the television was reading off a list of something…street names.

"And if you are just tuning in to Channel 9 Nightly News, GlenOak is in the middle of a very bad rainstorm. The town is predicted to get nearly five inches of rain tonight. Oh, I am just getting a report now of 2 more accidents on Main Street. If you add that to the staggering number we had before, that makes the total of weather-related car accidents tonight up to 14."

The first thing that flashed through Mary's mind was Wilson. Was he home? Did he wake her up and she didn't remember it? Mary walked upstairs to his bedroom only to see his room completely deserted. Mary went back downstairs and sat back down on the couch. As she waited for him to return home, awful thoughts ran through her head. She tried to use the T.V. to distract her, but it didn't help much. The rain was coming down furiously, which only made her more nervous. Just then, another lightening bolt stuck close by, and the lights flickered before the power completely went out. Mary heard both Lucy and Ruthie let out a yelp as soon as the lights went out and she smiled. Nothing comforted her more than being home with her family. 

The only thing that might match that comfort level was being with her other half, her best friend, her boyfriend, and the father of her unborn child- Wilson. Mary felt her way out of the living room and to the window in the foyer. She peered out onto the driveway, squinting in the darkness to make sure that his car was not there. 

Mary stood by the window for 20 minutes until Wilson pulled up. The lights had just gotten turned back on, so Mary was absolutely sure that he was home.  She caught a glimpse of his face as the car came to stop, and Mary knew that now was the time. It might not have been picture-perfect, but it felt right. 

Mary ran out into the rain toward Wilson who was just getting out of his car. The warm rain touched the bare flesh on her arms and feet, bridging the gap between wet and dry, and her and Wilson. Mary went closer and closer to him until she met him in her innocent embrace.

"What are you doing out here? It's pouring."

"I just wanted to tell you something." Mary grabbed his hands and stared deep into his dark eyes. "Wilson, I love you. I mean, I'm in love with you."

Wilson laughed at Mary's choice of words. "I'm in love with you, too, Mare…so much."

Mary grabbed Wilson's face and kissed his lips with more passion than she knew she was capable of. And there in the middle of the worst rainstorm of the summer, Mary and Wilson shared their first "I love you" and made out in the driveway until their clothes each held enough water to wash Wilson's car twice.

A/N: So, does it make more sense now? Did you like it? PLEASE review I would love to hear your feedback.


	8. Chapter Eight

(A/N: I am starting off by saying that, especially from now until the end of the story, I know nothing about anything. That being said, this sis when everything starts to happen, the real plot begins. Everything else before this could kind of be considered a prologue. This is the beginning of "good part".)

21 week pregnant Mary was sitting in the living room with Wilson. The two were holding hands, enjoying each other's company. Mary rested against Wilson, moving every three seconds to find a comfortable position. Wilson grabbed pillows, putting them behind Mary's back, between her legs- anything to help her feel relaxed. No matter how hard he tried, though, it was a lost cause.

"You know," she said after turning around to face Wilson, "I really don't feel like sitting."

"Ok, then," he responded, "what do you want to do?"

"Anything that gets me up and moving around, I'm going stir crazy being in this house all day."

"Want to go take a walk?" Wilson suggested.

"Can I?" Mary asked him apprehensively. 

"I don't see why not. Come on, let's go."

He stood before Mary and reached out his hand. She took it, and after struggling to her feet the two of them were out the front door. They decided upon walking to nearby Kingston Park.  As they strolled down the streets of GlenOak on their way, Mary couldn't help but notice all of the unwelcome stares and whispers that were coming their way. Everyone in town knew who she was, that she was pregnant, and had an opinion, or at the very least a comment, on her life. After just barely 16 years living as the notorious "Mary Camden", she still couldn't figure out the reason behind all of the hype that surrounded her existence. Why was she so special? Granted, her father was a minister, but so what? That did not make every whimsical moment of her teenage years a crime. 

To spite everyone, as they neared a pack of female church gawkers, Mary shoved her hand into Wilson's back pocket. The whispers grew louder as they witnessed her actions. The most unexpected reaction, however, was form Wilson. He gave Mary a satisfied, yet censorious look. She told him just to play along. When they finally were in front of the women, Mary pinched his butt. Wilson jumped nearly two feet in the air, getting a giggle out of the women and Mary, who then removed her hand from his jeans.

"What was that about?" Wilson asked her.

"I should be asking the same of you. Are you training to be the next Sugar Plumb Fairy? Because you should know, I find a man in tights very sexy."

"Do you?"

Mary laughed, and squeezed Wilson's hand. "I love you."

"I know, and I love you, too."

They advanced into the park, and Mary started getting very distant.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I always used to come to this park when I was little. I never pictured myself coming here when I was sixteen and pregnant."

They walked around the park some more, and got closer to the playground area. It was such a beautiful day- meant for park going. Satisfied that the park was silent because the children of GlenOak were in school for at least another half hour, Wilson tried to imagine him and Mary bringing their own or daughter or son here on a day as fine as this. He was quickly pulled out of his reverie, though, by Mary's eagerness to go on the swings. Watching her walk over to them bought him a huge dose of reality. Mary was so young, and for that matter so was he. She was pregnant before she finished her sophomore year of high school; that was pathetic. What did that say about Mary, or Wilson, or even their commitment toward one another? Many other teens could say no to sex- Mary was even brought up to say no. Why weren't they strong enough to conquer their urges?

Mary sat herself into one of the swings. "I can't believe I can fit into one of these. I'm huge."

"You're not huge," Wilson protested. "You're gorgeous."

Mary blushed, and started to swing herself gently back and forth. Wilson sat down in the swing next to her, and Mary stopped and looked at him. "Do you miss Billy?" she asked him.

"Very much," he answered quickly, "why?"

"Do you think about him?"

"Everyday. And I wish that I could provide the right type of life for him- the type of life that he deserves. But I can't do that right now, and my parents can. I don't regret what I did."

"I never said you regretted it, I was just wondering, that's all."

"Why?"

"No reason," she said nonchalantly as she kicked at the beige sand underneath her feet.

"Come on Mary," Wilson pleaded. "I know you. You can't hide anything from me. Just tell me what you're thinking."

Mary quickly stammered for a response, but could not come up with one. Before Wilson was able to force the reason out of her, though, two squad cars with flashing lights rolled into the parking lot in front of the swings. Two officers came out of one of the vehicles and hopped the partition that separated the play area from the blacktop as if they were making a major drug bust. To her surprise, the two men ran right at Wilson. 

"Wilson West?" the slightly taller one questioned in a booming, authoritative voice.

"Yes," Wilson said getting up off of the swing.

"You are under arrest."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb with us," the shorter male said rudely. "You are under arrest for statutory rape."

Mary was in a panic. It all happened so fast- she was talking to Wilson, and the next thing she knew he was being put into the back of a cop car and taken away from her. Mary made a pact with herself a couple of months ago not to cry anymore if she didn't have a reason. She figured since she didn't know what was going on, she couldn't muster up a reason, therefore she mustn't cry.  She looked around the park, scared stiff of being alone. As her head was turning from side to side, she noticed something. The other car was still sitting in the parking lot- it never left. Before she could even think of what to do, Sergeant Michaels stepped out of the automobile. 

"Hello Mary," he said walking toward her. "Are you alright?"

"I…I don't know. What just happened?"

"Come on, I'll take you home and we can discuss this with your parents."

Mary was too confused to do anything but comply. She got into the car and rode off with the family friend. For the 30 seconds that they were in the car, Mary's mind began to race. _What if Wilson stays in jail? What about us? What about the baby? I can't do this by myself; I need him with me._

Just before she started hyperventilating, they pulled into her driveway. The two of them went to the front door. Mary smiled graciously at Sergeant Michaels and rang the bell. 

"Sorry," she said politely, "Wilson had the key to the house."

He nodded at her, his eyes seeming very sympathetic. Almost too sympathetic, she thought. Mary could hear footsteps pounding down the stairs from inside the house, and the door quickly opened unveiling Lucy and Simon. Mary walked into the house, inviting Sergeant Michaels inside as her siblings stared at their sister. 

"What's going on?" Lucy asked.

"Uh, Simon, can you go get Mom and Dad for me?"

Simon scurried off, but Lucy remained. "What's going on Mary?" she asked her older sister yet again.

"I don't know," she responded without making eye contact.

"Where's Wilson?"

Mary didn't answer her, she just looked away. Before Lucy could hound Mary any further, Annie and Eric walked into the foyer together.

"Hello Sergeant Michaels," Eric said to his long time friend.

"What brings you here?" Annie questioned as Mary walked over to join her parents.

"Um, could we sit down?" he asked.

"Is that necessary?" Eric asked, growing concerned that something awful had happened.

"Yes, I think it is."

Annie led him, Mary, and Eric into the living room. Mary sat on one couch between her parents and the officer sat across from them on the other couch. 

"Would you like something to eat, something to drink maybe?" Mrs. Camden asked politely.

"No, thank you," he said as he clasped his hands together and then unclasped them- a surefire sign that he was nervous.

Mary looked around the room, feeling like she was having some sort of out-of-body experience. She couldn't be in this room talking with her parents and a police officer about why Wilson had just been arrested. None of this seemed possible. As she studied the color of the walls, Mary noticed that Lucy was spying on them. 

"Can you excuse me for just a moment?" Mary said as she stood up and walked out of the room. She went over to Lucy, who was shocked that Mary had spotted her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm the oldest one who's not in trouble, I have to find out what's going on."

"What makes you think I'm in trouble?"

"You're in there with Sergeant Michaels. And where is Wilson?"

Mary sighed heavily, and grabbed Lucy's hand. "Come on," she said as she pulled Lucy into the living room. At least this way Mary would not be forced to explain anything to Lucy later.

"So, what is this all about?" Eric asked. 

"Wilson was arrested," Mary said quietly and plainly.

"What?" said Lucy, Annie, and Eric all at the same time.

"What for?" Annie asked. Mary just shrugged her shoulders, and the three remaining Camdens turned to Sergeant Michaels.

"Wilson was arrested for statutory rape."

"W-with me?" Mary asked the room full of people. Sergeant Michaels nodded. "That does not make sense. Wilson definitely did not rape me."

"I'm sure he didn't Mary," the policeman told her.

"Than what's the problem? I mean, I consented completely. In his defense, I was the one who-"

"It has nothing to do with that," Sergeant Michaels explained. "It has to do with age. How old were you when you and Wilson…" Sergeant Michaels couldn't even finish his sentence. He felt it was sinful to ask these questions to such an innocent young girl.

"I was 15. I'm 16 now though."

"And how old was Wilson?"

"18. But why does it matter?"

At this point, Reverend Camden chimed it. "It's unlawful for someone over 18, a man or a woman, to sleep with a minor. Not to mention it is unethical, but it is punishable under the law."

"Oh," Mary said in a quiet voice. "How punishable?"

"I didn't really look into that," Sergeant Michaels answered. "Fines, community service, small jail time is probably what he is facing."

Mary took a deep breath. "But can I see him? He is in jail right?" Sergeant Michaels nodded. "Can we get him out?"

"Yes, but not without bail. It will probably be a big one, too, considering he is an alleged sex offender."

Annie wrapped her arm around Mary, but she pushed her hand off. "This is a lot for me to process right now. I… I'm going to go upstairs. Thanks for bringing me home Sergeant Michaels."

Mary ran up the stairs, her hand on her stomach the entire time. Lucy went after her, and when she approached the closed bedroom door she was greeted with silence. She went inside and saw Mary curled up into a tight ball on her bed. Her eyes were glazed over, and she looked like she was somewhere else. Mary wished that she were somewhere else, in particular the GlenOak Police Precinct in the middle of town. She wanted to be with Wilson, to hear his voice and have him tell her that it was all OK. She tried not to think about that, though, but she couldn't get Wilson out of her mind. She kept picturing Wilson giving her his famous speech. _"It's amazing how one night can change your life…"_


	9. Chapter Nine

(A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever, but this story is taking me a while to write. Don't worry, though. For those of you who are my loyal readers, I thank you and promise that this WILL be finished eventually.)

Mary watched Lucy enter and exit the room out of the corner of her eye about 5 times in 10 minutes. Mary wished that Lucy would just go away, not only because she wanted some privacy, but also because she was not feeling well. She was not sure if at 4 months, one week, and three days the baby could move around or not, but that was definitely what it felt like. It was different than cramps, different than anything she had ever really experienced before. It would come and go in waves and was extremely inconsistent, but the unpredictability of the pain did not make it feel any better. Mary grabbed her stomach and rolled over onto her side, hoping that it would all go away soon. Just as she was feeling better, however, her mother entered the bedroom. 

"Mary?" The sound of her mother's voice seemed to jolt the discomfort through her again like a bolt of lightening.

Mary persevered and sat up so that the two of them could converse.

"Your father went with Sergeant Michaels down to the police station. He's going to try his best to get Wilson out of there and back home."

"Will he be out by tonight?"

"I'm not quite sure. My guess would be yes, though, but don't get your hopes up."

Mary nodded, not knowing how else to respond to the information at hand.

Still, she must have looked more forlorn than she thought, because her mother picked up on her mood right away. "You really care for him, don't you?"

Mary nodded her head vigorously. "A lot."

Annie smiled. "I heard that you guys said the big 'I love you'."

Mary nodded once more, feeling no reason to hide how she felt about Wilson.

"You two seem to have a very special bond," Annie said.

"Yeah, we do."

"It kind of reminds me of myself and your father."

"Really?" Mary asked sounding very excited. 

"Yup. Don't tell your Dad I said this, but I think you two might really have something- something that could last a lifetime," Mrs. Camden responded with a smile.

"Nothing will ever come of it if he doesn't come home," Mary said with a pout.

Annie wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Don't worry. He's coming back and everything will eventually go back to normal."

"Normal as in before I got pregnant or normal as in before he was arrested?"

"Um, before he was arrested. Your life will never go back to the way it was before you got pregnant Mary."

This made Mary's stomach hurt even more than before. She clutched it quickly, trying desperately not to draw any attention to the fact that she was in pain. "I think I am going to go take a bath, get my mind off of things."

"Good idea," her mother responded. "The bubbles are in the cabinet."

Mary got up and headed toward the bathroom, taking her bathrobe with her as she left the bedroom. She got the water ready and made sure that it was nice and warm. The temperature of the water was supposed to calm her nerves and her stomach, but it seemed to do more of the latter. 

After 35 minutes, her stomach was beginning to calm down, but Mary was getting chilly. The water had turned from warm to cold and uncomfortable very fast. She raised her arm out from the water and looked at her hand, discovering that her fingers were so pruny that they looked like a road map. Mary stepped out of the tub and wrapped her towel around her when there was a knock on the door. Living with 4 brothers and sisters, Mary was used to people interrupting her time in the bathroom.

"Just a second," she said as she quickly dried off and tied her robe around her.

Once she had the robe securely in place, she opened the door in front of her. From behind it, Wilson stepped inside. Mary stared at him curiously, convinced that it was not he who was standing in front of her. Clearly, it had to be some sort of mirage.

"Mare?" Wilson asked her. "You OK?"

Mary then realized it was really him. She threw her arms around his waist, holding him tighter than she had in a long time. 

"No, I am not OK," she responded, "but I am better now that you are here. What happened?"

Wilson sighed heavily. "It's a long story."

"A long story you're going to tell me, right?" Mary inquired.

"Sure," he said smiling down at her. 

Mary held onto Wilson for what seemed to be an exceedingly long time. She was so determined not to let him go that no amount of coaxing could get her to give him up. Wilson leaned down and kissed Mary's lips passionately, sweeping her off her feet with his devotion for her. Mary's hands went to Wilson's face as she kissed him back out of longing and desire. Even though she knew it was wrong, everything with him felt so right that it was hard for her to stop herself. Although she could not control her urges, there was definitely someone who could.

Eric knocked at the door and cleared his throat, desperately trying to manage his drive to pull Wilson off of his daughter. Wilson pulled away from Mary and turned to look at Eric. Reverend Camden couldn't help but notice that Wilson looked guilty, almost a sad looking guilty. When he saw his face, Eric's fatherly instincts turned off and his minister ones kicked in. He actually found himself feeling sorry for Wilson.

"Did you want something Dad?" Mary asked as she watched her father stare blankly at her boyfriend.

"Um, yes I did," he said snapping out of it. "I wanted to talk to Wilson downstairs."

"Could I come? I mean, this involves me just as much as it involves him."

"Not this time Mary, OK?" he said, making Mary feel like an 8-year-old child. 

Wilson left with the Reverend and the two of them went into the office to talk. Wilson did not know what the conversation was going to be about, but he decided that the first thing he should do was to apologize.

"I'm really sorry about all of this Sir. If I had known that this was going to happen…I…I wouldn't have let all of this happen. I'm such an idiot."

"First of all, you are not an idiot Wilson. You're a very smart boy, and although I do not always approve of your relationship with my daughter you treat her well. That's more than a lot of people can say about themselves. As for all of this…" Reverend Camden didn't know what to say to him. "I want to say it's not your fault but that wouldn't be completely accurate."

"How would it not be my fault?" Wilson asked.

"Before I got you out of jail, I talked with Sergeant Michaels some more. He told me something that was, well, very disturbing. He said that the only reason you got arrested was because in this town your case would be what they would consider a high-profile case. If my family wasn't my family, and you had slept with some random underage girl there would have been no problem. But since Mary is Mary, you got punished for all of this."

"What?" Wilson said, not believing what Eric was telling him.

"Sergeant Michaels told me that GlenOak has a very big statutory rape problem, the third highest in the state with most of the incidents resulting in pregnancy. They figured that since we are in the public eye, so to speak, arresting you would help raise awareness about the issue. The idea was to stop perverted men from having sex with little girls at your expense."

"And this was all going to stop by making me pay a fine and spend a month or two in jail?"

"Apparently so."

"But that doesn't make any sense."

"I know. I wanted to tell you that I plan on fighting this for you. I'm going to help you get out of this mess because what they are doing to you is not right."

"Is there a law against what they are doing or something?"

"No. This is not going to be easy because technically you are guilty, but I'm going to try Wilson. I'll call in a few favors and get you a good lawyer- someone who can help you out of this situation."

"Thank you Reverend, I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, but I do want to ask you a favor."

"What's that?"

"I know you are going to tell Mary all of this and when you do, try and brake it to her gently. She can be a little stubborn as you probably already know, and I'm not quite sure how she is going to take this one. My guess would be not very well."

Wilson nodded. "I'll try my best." He got up and went toward the door.

"And Wilson," Eric said just before he was about to leave, "you're welcome."


	10. Chapter Ten

(A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I went on vacation and I've been working on the later chapters of this story. FYI, if all goes as planned I expect at least a 20 chapter story out of this one. Again, thanks for the reviews. I love your feedback, and please continue to send me some. I really like to know if people actually read these things I put on here.)

Wilson walked upstairs and into Mary's bedroom. She was sitting on her bed, still in her robe waiting for Wilson to return to her. She knew he would come back eventually, and she was staying put until he did. 

"Hey precious," Wilson said sitting down next to her. Are you OK? You look a little off."

"Yeah, it's just this whole thing has me a bit shaken up."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Wilson asked.

"No, I don't think so. What did my dad want to talk to you about?" Wilson picked up Mary's hands and smiled nervously at her. "What?" she asked. "Is it something bad?"

"No, not particularly," he answered," but you probably won't like it very much. Your father talked to that police officer you guys are friendly with…"

"Sergeant Michaels?"

"Yeah, him. He told your dad that the only reason they arrested me was because of who you are."

"What?"

"Well, not because of you, but more because of your father. If he wasn't who he was in the community, they would have looked the other way so to speak."

Mary was truly perplexed.  "I don't understand. They can't' do that, can they?"

"It's not right, but they can. Your dad's going to get me a lawyer, though."

"And what are you going to do," Mary asked, "plead innocent?"

"I don't know," he said sounding frustrated. "I'll have to talk to the lawyer I guess."

"At this point, Mary was getting angry- not at anyone in particular, but just in general. "What time is it?" she asked crossly.

"Around a quarter to seven."

"Do you have to work tonight?" Mary asked hoping he didn't.

"No," Wilson said.

"Good, then I'm going to sleep."

"Are you sure your OK?" Wilson asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"I'm fine; I'm just really tired and I don't feel very well."

"OK. Do you want me to sit with you?"

"No, maybe later," she said shyly. Wilson nodded at her and headed for the door. "Wait a second," Mary called out to him, motioning for him to come closer. She lightly put her hands on his face and pulled him down for a passionate kiss. "I do love you. You know that, right?"

" I know, and I love you too."

Wilson left Mary alone for a while as she slept. However, when Mary finally opened her eyes hours later, she found that the lights were off, Lucy was in bed, and Wilson was hovering over her.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hi, what are you doing in here?"

"I just wanted to sit with you. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Mary said taking his hand. "I get kind of lonely without you."

"Well, if you think it's lonely in here, you should try sleeping up in the attic."

Mary smiled seductively. "Maybe one night I'll keep you company up there."

Wilson couldn't help but smile at that remark, too. "That sounds nice."

"Are you OK though? You don't just stalk me in the middle of the night for no reason."

Lucy rolled over and groaned, not giving Wilson a chance to answer. She obviously did not like the fact that Wilson was in the bedroom. Mary glared over in Lucy's direction, angered by how quickly she took offense to things.

"It's late," Wilson told Mary, "go back to sleep."

"Are you going or staying?"

"I'd like to stay a little bit if you don't mind."

Mary squeezed Wilson's hand. "Not at all."

Lucy rolled over and violently threw the covers off of her. "I'm going to get a glass of water," she announced and marched out of the bedroom. Lucy went out in the hallway, passed the bathroom and the kitchen stairs, and went directly into her parent's bedroom. She shook her father awake, and he looked at her questioningly.

"Luce? What's wrong?"

"Nothing really, except hat it's 1:30 in the morning and Wilson is in our bedroom hovering over Mary like he's some sort of bird."

"What?!" Eric said, his voice becoming strong and more awake.

Lucy nodded, and now this time it was Eric's turn to throw the covers off of him and walk down the second floor hallway. Before he opened the door, he stopped and counted to ten. It helped him to calm down a little bit, but it was hard to tell that there was a calm nerve in his entire body. He turned the doorknob, and looked in on Mary and Wilson. What Lucy had said was true, Wilson was standing over Mary, holding her hand as she slept before him. Before he went to yell, he took a good look at Wilson. He could tell that he was upset, and even thought he saw that his eyes were more moist than usual. Eric felt compassion for the young boy, and realized how much he must be going through right now. He entered the room, taking pity on Wilson.

"Everything all right in here?" Eric asked, putting a hand on Wilson's shoulder in a fatherly manner.

"I'm sorry," Wilson quickly apologized. "I wasn't doing anything to her, I just wanted to be in here. I'll go."

"I think that would be best," Eric said sympathetically.

Wilson let go of Mary's hand and turned toward the door.

"Are you leaving?" Mary asked him without opening her eyes, completely unaware that her father was in the room.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"I love you."

Wilson smiled. He knew that Mary would have a major fit if she knew she told him that she loved him in front of her father. "Love you too."

Wilson finally left the room and went up to the attic, but Eric lingered in the hallway for a little. Lucy came toward him and looked at him bizarrely. 

"Something wrong Dad?"

"Did Wilson seem OK to you?"

"Not really," Lucy confessed, "that's why I came and got you. I didn't mean to get him in trouble, but he was acting kind of strange and I didn't think that him being in the room was the best thing."

Eric sighed. "You're probably right. Good night Luce," he said ruffling her hair.

"Good night Dad."

Lucy ducked away into the bedroom and Eric walked toward his at the other end of the corridor. He got back into bed next to his wife, who quickly curled up around him.

"Everything OK in there?" Annie inquired.

"I guess so," Eric said, "but I'm going to talk to Wilson. I think he may be getting depressed." Eric closed his eyes, following the majority of GlenOak into a resting state. As he lay there practically wide awake, he couldn't help but get Wilson off of his mind. _When did Mary's boyfriend become as important to me as my own kids? How did Wilson get to be the newest member of the Camden family so quickly?_


	11. Chapter Eleven

The next morning, Eric went downstairs and waited for Mary to come down as well. He sat at the wooden kitchen table and stared into it, examining the grain as he was deep in thought. He knew that he should at least attempt to do something to help Wilson, but he wasn't quite sure what. Before he decided on a famous "Reverend Camden Plan of Action", Mary moseyed down the stairs and greeted her father cordially. 

"I hope you're not mad about last night," Mary said. "I don't know why he was in there really."

"What did you make of it though?"

Mary shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know. I thought it was sweet."

"Did he seem OK to you? You know, like his normal self?"

"I guess so, I was half asleep though." Mary looked at her father questioningly. "Why? What do you know?"

"I don't know anything, that's why I'm talking to you."

"What, did you think he was acting funny?"

"Maybe."

"Dad, tell me the truth," Mary said seriously. "What do you think is wrong with him?"

"He seemed a little depressed to me last night…but maybe he was just tired."

"Depressed?" Mary said aloud. "You know, he could be. He's been through a lot. Maybe it's finally catching up with him. Don't worry, I'll talk to him- try and cheer him up."

Mary left her father alone in the kitchen, forgetting completely that she came downstairs for some breakfast. She went straight up to Wilson's room and sat down on his bed. He was just waking up, and Mary lied down next to him. She put her hand on his chest and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Good morning," he said after a couple of minutes.

"You're not feeling overwhelmed or something, are you?"

"No, not really. Why?"

"Sad maybe?" Mary asked pressing onward.

"No, I'm fine. And right now, I'm happy because you're here next to me."

Something about Wilson's response didn't seem right to Mary. What her father said really stuck in her head, and she was almost convinced that he was emotionally troubled.

"I want to go out somewhere today."

"Tonight or today?"

Mary smiled warmly. "Today."

"OK," Wilson said, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Anything you want to do?"

"Not in particular." Wilson thought for a second of where he could take her for a couple of hours. "We could go walk around the promenade."

"That sounds nice," Mary said kissing his cheek. "I love you. Are you sure you're OK though?"

"Why? Do you think that something is wrong with me?"

"You just seem a little down."

Wilson ran his fingers through Mary's hair. "I'm really am fine."

"OK," Mary said only slightly more convinced that Wilson was as "fine" as he claimed to be.

Nearly four hours later, Mary and Wilson found themselves strolling down the sidewalk in the GlenOak promenade. They were holding hands, like the young lovebirds they were, and quietly making light conversation. The day would have been perfect, aside from the fact that they were continually getting unwelcome glances everywhere they went. They both noticed this and decided to sit for a few seconds before leaving. The couple plopped down in a bench with an adjacent bench directly behind it. 

Mary leaned her head on Wilson's shoulder as the two of them sat together. Wilson put his hand on Mary's stomach and smiled at her. Mary smiled back, a little embarrassed that Wilson touched her body in public. She looked Wilson in the eye, her boyfriend of nearly six months- over a year if you don't count the little break they took, and Mary usually didn't. Even though they weren't together, Mary still had strong feelings for Wilson and vice versa. 

A group of people Mary vaguely recognized sat down in the bench behind her and Wilson. At first, she didn't pay them much attention because she was too wrapped up in Wilson. However, when Mary heard her name being mentioned, she listened intently to the other people's conversation.

"Do you know them?" Wilson mouthed, as he himself had heard them utter the name of his beloved.

Mary shook her head and continued to listen in. 

"Did you hear she's pregnant and dropped out of school?" one of them said.

"Yeah, but I heard she was raped and beaten. She was too scared to do anything but have the baby," another one said.

"Well someone told me that she was arrested for prostitution. It's so sad," said the third voice.

"Yeah," said the other two in unison.

Mary's whole body tensed up. She was truly hurt by what they were saying about her. "Whoever said 'sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me' wasn't very smart," Mary thought to herself. She looked up straight into Wilson's eyes and he could clearly see that she was upset.

"Let's go, OK?" Mary said.

Wilson kissed the top of Mary's head and helped her up out of the bench. They walked to the car silently. Mary had her arms crossed tightly over her chest, disturbed by the way everything was turning out. The two of them walked over to where Wilson's car was parked and got in.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Wilson asked Mary.

"Not really," she responded quickly.

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

Mary gazed out the window, watching the cars pass by on the street next to them. "Me too."

(A/N: I know this chapter is kind of short, but I have a slight case of writer's block at the moment, and I didn't want to wait as long as I did before between updates. I hope everyone likes it anyways. Please don't forget to review!)


	12. Chapter Twelve

Reverend Camden got a lawyer for Wilson through his church connections. Mr. Rosling, a parishioner's friend's brother, was one of the best lawyers in the area. Luckily, when he was informed of Wilson's case he took it on free of charge. Once everything was all arranged, he wanted to meet with Mary and Wilson. A court date had been set for about a month from now, and being the experienced lawyer he was he knew that he was going to need all of the preparation time he could get before the actual trial. The better he got to know Mary and Wilson, the smoother everything would go when the big day came.

"So, Wilson…may I call you Wilson?" Mr. Rosling asked.

He nodded.

"Wilson, when is your birthday?"

"January 9th, 1980."

"And Miss Camden, when is yours?" he asked as he recorded down Wilson's birth date on the yellow notepad on his lap.

"July 12th, 1982."

"So that makes you…" Mr. Rosling did the math is his head. "2 years, 7 months, and 3 days older than her Wilson, correct?"

Wilson counted days on his fingers. "I think so."

"And from what I understand you two did have intercourse."

"That's right Sir," Wilson replied, recoiling with the blatancy of his question. 

"Do you by chance know the date of when this happened?"

Wilson thought for a second. "May…May…" he repeated, racking his brain to figure out at least what time of the month it happened.

"May 17, around 2:30 in the afternoon," Mary replied sullenly. "It was a Saturday."

Wilson looked over at Mary, but she stared in the opposite direction. 

"Can you confirm the date Wilson?"

"Yes."

"At the time, then, Wilson you were 18 and Miss Camden was 15. Therein lies the problem, no?"

"Sort of," Wilson replied. "Have you talked to Reverend Camden?"

"Yes, and he told me about how the GlenOak Police Department swindled you so to speak. And as of right now, I think the best I can do is provide you both with some answers. I'm sure you know what statutory rape is, so I'll stick to the stuff you probably don't know. Statutory rape is the biggest crime committed by the youth in GlenOak second only to teen drinking. The whole state of California got some money form the governor to up their police departments to be able to investigate cases similar to yours. They want to try and decrease the number of births among minors. However, I do feel that not only are they exploiting your case, as well as Mary who is a minor, but also that convicting you is going against everything the law was made to protect. I consider myself a very good judge of character, and when the two of you walked in I could tell you're not the type of couple that should be going through this. You are a couple, aren't you?"

Wilson nodded. "I live in the Camden house as well, if that has any validity to it."

"Good, that's good," Mr. Rosling said. "How long have you two been together?"

"Over a year on and off, about 7 months straight now."

"That's nice, I'm happy for you."

Wilson was nod amused with the emotional side Mr. Rosling was showing them. "I was wondering," Wilson said impatiently, "exactly what types of charges am I facing here?"

"Well, since you are over 2 years older than Mary and you were over 18 when the crime took place, you're treading the fine line between misdemeanor and a full-blown felony. You're punishable under the "Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act of 1995" which entails a fine of $2,000 to $5,000. Then there is 180 hours of community service and, most harsh, 30 to 60 days in jail."

Both Mary and Wilson's faces went sour fast as the lawyer told Wilson what he was inevitably going to be charged with.

"Now, the only problem we face is that you are guilty. They can even physically see it, so even if we were to lie, which we aren't going to do, it wouldn't work. I've thought about your case, though, and I think the way to win this one is to play up he emotional factor, tug at the jury's heartstrings. So, I'd like to ask Mary a few questions, and then we'll go from there. Would you have a problem with testifying Mary?"

"If it's going to help him," she said picking up Wilson's hand, "no."

Mr. Rosling flipped through the pages in his legal pad. "I wrote some questions down…you don't have to answer anything that seems to personal but remember all the information you can give me will help." 

Mary nodded.

Mr. Rosling scanned his list of questions, then took a good look at Mary. She was cowering in her chair and looked like she would crawl up into a ball if she could. He recognized that look. It was the same look he had seen on the faces of many mothers and sisters and wives of people who were facing a severe sentencing. "You know what, maybe it might be easier if Wilson stepped outside."

Wilson looked at Mary, then back at Mr. Rosling, and then walked out the door. He didn't really know if she wanted him to leave or stay, but he was going nonetheless.

"So Mary," the lawyer started warmly, "how do you feel about all of this? Are you scared?"

"Terrified. Please don't let him go to jail…I need him with me."

"Did you feel you needed him before you got pregnant?"

"No, but we've gotten so close that I can't imagine not being with him."

"Are you staying with him just because he is the father of your child?"

Mary was appalled. "No, definitely not. I'm in love with him."

"And he is living in your house. What do you think of that?"

"At first I thought it was a little weird, but now I like it. He looks after me…" Mary's voice trailed off some. "He's going to make a good father."

"Are you happy about becoming a mother?"

"I wouldn't say happy exactly, but more excited and nervous. I don't know if I can do it. But one of the great things about being with Wilson, though, is that I know we can do it together. We've been saving money- well he is, he doesn't want me working, and he spends all of his free time with me whether I am in a good mood or not. He's a special guy and I am really lucky to have him."

Mary caught herself smiling and bit her tongue. She had just met this man, and now she was telling him her life story. She definitely wasn't acting like herself, which Mary considered to be a good thing. If he could manipulate her into spilling her guts, then he would be able to manipulate other people into giving him the information he needed while the case was at trial. 

"One last question," he said, "when the tow of you had intercourse, did you pursue him or was it more of him pressuring you? It doesn't matter in the eyes of the court, but just so that I know for future reference." Mary sat there not saying anything, her eyes shifting nervously around the room. "You can tell me the truth, it isn't going to affect the outcome of the case at all."

"I pursued him."

"OK, I think we are done here then. Thank you for taking out the time to answer my questions and to come down here today. Would you be so kind as to make an appointment for about a week from now with my secretary on you way out?"

Mary smiled politely as she struggled to stand up. "Sure, and thank you."

The two said there good-byes and Mary walked out into the waiting room and over to Wilson. They made an appointment just like Mr. Rosling asked and  went out to the car.

"So," Wilson asked, "what did you think of him?"

"He was very polite," she replied. "I guess I liked him. I love you." Wilson cocked his head. "What?"

"Those two sentences don't quite go together," he said.

"Sorry, I just blurted it out. I do, though."

"I know, and I love you, too." Wilson looked into Mary's eyes. "And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

(A/N: The following information was based on information that I found from reliable sources via the Internet. Most of the legal aspect is true, including the part about the police getting money and the "Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act of 1995", which provided liabilities ranging from $2,000 to $ 25,000, depending on the difference in the ages of the partners and was enacted in September of 1996 in California.

Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter. Please review!)


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Four weeks had passed since Mary and Wilson's first meeting with Mr. Rosling, and up until the past few days everything seemed to be going fine. Wilson and Mary had three appointments with the lawyer in his office and each one that passed seemed to hold more and more of a positive outlook for the future. 

Mary sat in the living room, trying to catch a little shut-eye as she waited for Wilson to return home from class at Crawford University. 

"Mary, phone!" Simon screamed just as she was nodding off.

Mary picked up the phone next to her- it in the same spot she put it in before after she had received her last call 20 minutes ago. "Hello?"

"Mary, I'm so sorry to bother you again," Mr. Rosling said on the other end.

"That's OK." The fact that it really was not OK didn't seem to bother Mary too much. She was just really tired, and Mr. Rosling had been calling at least once every hour during the day for the past three days. The most annoying part was that he would ask her one or two questions that seemed arbitrary to her, and then hang up only to call back later with another illogical question.

"Is Wilson home yet?"

"No, he is still at school."

"Oh." Mary could detect the pout on his face through his voice. "Well, maybe I could ask you instead. You should know."

"Ask away," she told him, secretly wishing this question would be the last for a while. 

"Does Wilson have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, he is an only child."

"And his parents…he does have parents doesn't he?"

"Doesn't everyone have parents?"

"Well, yes, but…tell me what you know about them."

Mary thought for a second. She didn't know much, he never talked about them. He always was saying "your mom" or "your dad", and she couldn't even think of a time when Wilson had spoke about his own parents or even hinted at missing them. "Um, their names are Jeffery and Margaret West. His dad's an ophthalmologist…at a practice somewhere." Mary thought, but still couldn't come up with anything better than that. "I'm sorry that's all I know. I only met them once."

"Why is that?"

"I don't really know."

"Does Wilson have a good relationship with them?"

"I would say no, but then again that opinion is not from observing them or anything so I could be wrong."

"Interesting," Mr. Rosling said.  "And what about that kid…Billy right?"

Mary's face went completely pale and she immediately started sweating. "You should talk to Wilson about this," she said trying to avoid answering him. 

"Why, does it make you uncomfortable?"

"No, but I am really tired and I want to rest up for tomorrow," Mary snipped back. Sometimes he seemed more like a therapist than a lawyer. Wilson would always tell her that that was because he was a very smart man, but on occasion Mary found herself doubting his knowledge.

"OK then. When will he be home?"

"Soon. When he gets here I'll tell him you called. Good-bye." 

Mary hung up the phone, put it back on the coffee table, and closed her eyes tightly. She tried to forget about the stuff that was going on in her life right now, and she succeeded until Wilson came home. She was greeted with his lips on hers. She moaned into his mouth as she woke up and rolled toward him.

"Call Mr. Rosling," Mary said without opening her eyes.

"Did he call?"

"Only 7 times."

Wilson laughed. "I wasn't gone more than three hours."

"That's exactly my point," Mary said to him. 

Wilson sat down next to Mary and kissed her forehead while picking up the phone. Mary wrapped her arms around Wilson. 

"Maybe that call could wait," she said seductively.

Wilson kissed her lips and pressed the "talk" button on the phone. "Later. If I call him now we can have the rest of the afternoon together."

Mary smiled and leaned her head on Wilson's shoulder as he made the call. Mary picked up his free hand and nuzzled into his neck as she listened to one side of the two-person conversation.

"I called your parents," Mr. Rosling said.

"And why did you do that?"

"I wanted to ask them some questions."

"What did you ask them?" Wilson said sounding scared.

"About your son."

Wilson swallowed hard. "And what did they say?"

"Well, let's just say they told me their side of the story. Is there anything you would like to say?"

"Not really, there is only one side to that story. Whatever they said about me is probably true."

"That's not the way I see it. Anyway, I'm sorry for picking at old wounds. You are aware that they got custody of him though, right?"

"Yes, I had to sign off on it."

"That's what I assumed." Mr. Rosling paused for a second, then acted on an instinct. "Mary doesn't now, does she?"

"No," Wilson replied downheartedly. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything. That's not my place. But if it does come up in court tomorrow…"

"I know, I know. Thank you Mr. Rosling. See you tomorrow." 

Wilson hung up the phone and kissed the top of Mary's head.

"Are you all right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Just then, Mrs. Camden walked into the living room. She knocked on the wall to get their attention, and Mary and Wilson looked up at her.

"Dinner is going to be ready in a couple of minutes. Are you hungry today Mary?"

"Starved," she responded.

Both Wilson and Mrs. Camden smiled. "Good. Why don't you two go wash up for dinner and then we'll eat."

That night, before Mary got into her own bed, she went into Wilson's and lied down with him. She placed her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat through his dark green T-shirt. Mary was so sacred and anxious that she was literally shaking. All she could think of were all the strikes they had against them and that Wilson was unquestionably guilty of the crime he was being put on trial for the next day.

"Do you think we'll be able to pull it off?" she asked him.

"There's nothing to pull off. I am guilty, but I don't deserve the punishment. That is what we are fighting for, not to lie while under oath."

"I know, but everything is just so complicated. I'm afraid they'll ask you when you had sex with me and our ages and that will be that. And how can we afford to pay a fine? And if you got to jail I'll be beside myself. Two to three months…" she thinks aloud, "I'm already seven months pregnant."

"I know," he said rubbing her stomach, "but everything is going to be fine. Just you wait and see."

Mary stayed quiet for a while, deep in thought about lots of things. Mary's main gripe, however, was bothering her too much for her to be able to just let it go. "I talked to my dad today."

"Oh, what about?"

"Billy."

Dead silence filled the room, the kind that only came during major tests or crept up on people in the middle of the night.

"He told me everything," she finally said, "and I have to say that up until today I never thought I could love you anymore than I did, but after hearing what you did…I do. I can't believe you gave up Billy to your parents so that you could be with me. That's the most mind-blowing, sweetest, most sacrificial thing you could have done. I know you didn't do it for me and that you did it for Billy, but I am just in awe at the amount of strength you have." Mary kissed Wilson's cheek. "Why did you sneak around instead of telling me?"

"I didn't want you to think I was giving up Billy for you. I mean, I sort of was, but I didn't want you to blame yourself for anything. I love you."

"I love you too," she said, "and if everyone on that jury could see you the way I do you'd be a free man."

"Thank you," Wilson said. "Now come on, let me put you to bed. We both have a big day ahead of us."

***

A/N: Next chapter…the trial. However, this won't be your average court case. Watch out Camdens, a surprise is in store that you won't ever forget. They'll need to pull together as a family for this one, an ENTIRE family. They have been so disjointed over the past 7 months, though, can they come together to save their second oldest?


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**A/N:** Well, I guess I should say that I own Mr. Rosling (although he does not really appear until the end of the chapter). That is, he is my own creation, as well Mr. Peters and Judge O'Connell. As for the rest of them they're not mine, but it's fun to borrow them. I used a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, proving that you can actually put things you learn in school to good use. Go ahead and review for this chapter, I would enjoy that. However, what I don't want is anyone saying how I am incorrect in some aspect whether legal or medical. I am not a lawyer or a doctor, and I based my writings on information I have picked up on the Internet from seemingly reliable sources. As I said in the previous chapter, I know nothing about anything. Go with that thought as you read the following chapter.

The next day, everyone was up bright and early. Although it was a Friday, no one was going to work or school so that they could show full support for Wilson. The line for the bathroom was almost down the staircase because they all decided to be nice and let Mary go in first. There was no hot water left and the whole house was a little edgy, but they tried as hard as they could to remain levelheaded.

Wilson walked downstairs from the attic bedroom into the upstairs hallway, past the bathroom queue, and into Mary's bedroom. She was looking through the clothes in her closet and didn't even here Wilson come in. Wilson stood in the middle of the room as massive quantities of clothing were flung in his direction, followed by a scream from Mary. She walked away from the clothes and was pleasantly surprised to find Wilson in the room.

"What do you wear to court?" she asked him.

"A dress shirt, dress pants, and a tie," he replied coolly.

"Normally that would be funny, but I'm too stressed out for jokes right now. I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for ten minutes now."

"Then sit down a take a break. And, no offense or anything, but I doubt you're going to fit into anything in your closet."

"What are you saying, that I'm as big as a beached whale?"

"No, I'm just saying that I think you should go ask your Mom for something to wear."

Mary took Wilson's hand and the two of them walked to the other end of the second floor to her parents' room. Mary knocked on the door and a disheveled Annie opened it.

"Wilson, you look very handsome," she said when she saw him.

"Thank you Mrs. Camden."

"And Mary, here," she said thrusting a garment in her daughter's direction. "Don't forget to put on pantyhose."

"Mom, do I have to?" Mary complained.

"No, you don't have to, but it would be nice."

"Fine, then I'm not wearing them," Mary shot back. "They're too uncomfortable."

Annie rolled her eyes and shut the door as Mary and Wilson walked back down the hall. 

"You do look nice," Mary said taking a good look at Wilson.

"Thanks. How did you mother know what you were going to ask her before you even said anything?"

"Haven't you ever heard of Mom ESP?" Mary said with a smile.

Wilson opened the door to the bedroom and started picking up clothes as he entered to make a path to the bed.

"There's no use in trying to clean it," Mary told him. "Lucy's going to be in here in two minutes and when she's done you'll be able to swim in piles of jeans and sweaters."

Mary slipped off her robe and stepped into the jumper her mother had given her. She struggled to find the zipper only to realize she couldn't zipper it herself. Wilson walked up behind her and helped with the predicament, kissing the back of her neck when he was done. Mary turned around and wrapped her arms around Wilson, and he did the same to Mary.

"I have a bad feeling about today," she told him.

"Why? Try to think positive."

"There's nothing positive about this Wilson."

Wilson pulled Mary in tighter and they both held each other for a while.

"I'm so scared," Mary confessed. "I don't want you to leave me. I know you keep telling me you're not, but for some reason I can't seem to believe you."

"Well then what can I do to make you more at ease with everything?"

"Not go today."

"I can't skip out on the trial, they'll arrest me and we won't get the bail money back."

"I know. And I hate to wimp out on you, but I really don't want to do this. I don't have the energy…I'm just so tired. I've never been this tired in all my life."

"Are you OK?"

"I think so. The baby has been kind of restless, though."

Then, as if on queue, the baby kicked. Mary took Wilson's hand and placed it on her stomach so that he too could feel the baby.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Wilson said to her.

Mary didn't respond, she just pulled Wilson even tighter to her as tears rolled down her face. She kissed Wilson through his shirt as he caressed her stomach. Mary tried to get her mood swing under control as Lucy walked into the room. Lucy was both warmed and saddened when she saw Mary and Wilson together.  

"All right, break it up you two," she said after watching them for a few seconds.

"Sorry Luce," Wilson said, "I'll go so you can get dressed."

Lucy smiled at him. "Thanks."

Wilson walked out of the room and closed the door behind him while Lucy walked over to Mary. She stared at her sister questioningly, and then looked her straight in the eyes.

"Are you OK?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, I'm just kind of hormonal. " Mary grabbed her dress shoes off the floor and went upstairs to find Wilson without another word to Lucy. As she reached the door, Mary attempted to wipe her eyes dry.

"Come here," Wilson said when he saw her. He pulled her in for a hug and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I feel so bad for you. Is there anything I can do to see you smile?"

"I don't know about smiling. But," she said running her fingers down his arms affectionately, "it would help me if you admitted that something can go wrong. You're overly confident and I don't want you to jinx it or something."

"I know that something could go wrong, that nothing is certain, and that I am being overly confident. I'm not going to leave you, though, and everything will be fine for you."

"If everything's not fine for you nothing will be fine for me. This could be the last morning for two months that can I hold you," Mary squeezed Wilson tighter, "or kiss you," Mary kissed Wilson's lips lightly, "or have you here with me."

Wilson sat down on the bed, bringing Mary down with him. "Let's talk about what you're going to do if I do go to jail."

"I'd sit around and cry for two months, and eventually one day I'll have the baby and then I'll cry even harder that you're not there."

"Is that what this is about? You're afraid I won't be there when you give birth?"

"That's part of it," she answered, "a big part of it."

"Then what's the rest of it? Tell me, I really would like to know."

"I already told you, I don't have a good feeling about today. I just know that something is going to go wrong and I love you so much that I don't want anything to happen to you."  
  
"If, for whatever reason, I do end up going to jail, it's not like you'll be alone. You'll still have your parents, and Lucy, and Simon and Ruthie. They'll take care of you because they love you," Wilson stood up and tweaked Mary's nose, "almost as much as I do."  
  


"I love you, too." Mary said standing up, "That's what makes this so hard for me."

Wilson put his arms around Mary and kissed the top of her head. "I know, I know," he whispered softly to her. 

Simon walked to the door, and took note of Mary and Wilson's attire. Mary was dressed in the black jumper her mother gave her, and Wilson was donning black pants and a gray dress shirt. "Who died?" Simon asked, startling the couple.

"What?" Mary said looking up at him condescendingly.

"I was making a joke, since your both wearing black and all. You look like you're going to a funeral."

"Thanks Simon," Mary said rudely.

"Sorry. Anyways, we're leaving. Mom said to tell you that you two are going to be riding in the minivan with her and the rest of us are going to be in the station wagon with Dad."

"Why, does Mom want to talk to me or something?"

"Not that I know of. But we have to take two cards and they don't want the two of you riding alone."

"Thanks Simon," Wilson told him. "We'll be there in 2 minutes."

Simon left and Mary turned to Wilson and sighed heavily. "So this is it, we're really going to court."

"Yeah." Wilson looked around the room nervously. "Something tells me that when we come back up here things will never be the same."

Mary rolled her eyes at Wilson. "You're turning into me." Wilson smiled at her. "Come on, let's go."

In the car en route to the GlenOak courthouse, Mary and Wilson sat in the bucket seats of the hunter green Dodge Caravan as Mrs. Camden escorted them to their destination. The young couple held hands tightly, pressing their sweaty palms together as Annie attempted to make some small talk.

"Are you nervous?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Yes," Mary answered plainly.

"I'm sure everything will be just fine," Annie Camden said like only she could. She used her sweet tone of voice, making her statement loose all of its power.

"And what if it's not?" Mary asked. "What then?"

"I…uh…" Annie didn't know how to respond to that. Everyone had just assumed that Mary and Wilson would take care of the baby together and with a little help from the rest of the family things would just work themselves out. Now that Wilson faced the possibility of being gone for a considerable amount of time, not one Camden knew what was going to happen.

Mary put a hand on her stomach and looked over at Wilson. He mouthed the words "I love you" to her and she smiled. Still seven minutes away from the courthouse, Mary leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes tightly. Inside her head, an image played of Wilson being handcuffed and taken away from her. It wasn't the mental picture she had taken when Wilson was arrested the first time, this was a new one, and this was what Mary was afraid would happen at the trial today. Mary's fear was so strong that she could paint a picture of it in her mind told her something- that she was getting some sort of a prophetic insight into the future of her beloved. She opened her eyes, not wanting to look at the horrific scene a second longer, and looked at Wilson as tears formed in her eyes and her soul wept. Wilson put his arm around Mary, but this didn't seem to help her at all. She needed some way to release all of this fear and anxiety, a diversion from the present maybe. Unfortunately, Mary didn't think she was going to get one.

They finally arrived at court and pulled into the parking spot adjacent to the light blue station wagon. Mary, Wilson, and Annie filed out of the van and joined the rest of the Camdens and Mr. Rosling.

"Annie, so good to see you," Mr. Rosling said prior to speaking with the two people he was really concerned with. "Mary, Wilson, how are you guys doing?"

"We're a little shaky," Wilson replied earnestly. 

"Oh, that comes with the territory." Mr. Rosling looked at Mary oddly. "Mary, are you feeling OK? You look a little pale to me. Do you want to sit down?"

"I'm…I'm fine. Just a little scared."

"What's the matter? Don't you trust me?" he said teasingly.

Mary smiled and Wilson wrapped his arm around her. "Are you sure everything is OK?" he whispered into her ear.

Mary nodded. "Don't worry about me. You just take care of yourself."

"That's not possible. I worry about you constantly."

"Oh do you?" Mary asked slyly. 

Wilson kissed Mary's cheek in front of everyone and she blushed. No matter how much she loved him, she would never be fully comfortable with things like that.

After that, everyone walked inside and got themselves situated, putting their jackets on the back of their chairs and trying to remain as calm as possible. Mary and Wilson ducked off to a secluded spot near the payphones for a last minute conversation.

"Are you feeling any better about this?" Wilson asked.

"Not really, but I'm trying I really am," Mary said. "Do me one last favor before we go inside?"

"Anything."

"Hold me," she said getting closer to him. Wilson placed his arms around Mary one last time and she cried on his shoulder. "I'm sorry if I'm making you more nervous, but I can't help feeling this way."

"You go ahead and feel anyway you want to," Wilson said trying to level with pregnant Mary. "Just don't let your emotions get you so wound up that you go crazy."

"Isn't it to late for that?" she said with a sniffle.

Wilson smiled at her. He took her hand and the two of them walked over to the courtroom and stepped inside. Mary was taken aback by the setting. It was just like a set from a movie. There were dark mahogany walls, floors, chairs, everything. Even the area for the judge and the witness were made from a dark colored, rich wood. The trial was to begin in approximately three minutes, and Mary took her seat with her family as Wilson walked through the swinging doors and over to the defense area.

Mary sat down next to Lucy and tried her hardest to keep from crying.  As soon as she sat, Lucy picked up her hand. 

"Don't worry," she said to her big sister. "If you can't have Wilson, why not have the next best thing?"

Mary smiled widely. "Thanks Luce."

Mary settled in her chair, trying to find a comfortable position. The bailiff walked out from a door in the far corner of the room and the entire place went quiet. "All rise, the honorable Judge O'Connell is presiding."

Everyone stood up, Mary following suit, as a short woman with red hair walked out and up to her space at the front of the room.

"You may be seated," she said after she herself had sat down.

"This is case number 1506, the city of GlenOak versus Wilson West. Mr. West, how do you plead?"

Wilson stood up slowly and carefully. "Innocent your honor."

"Very well. Does the prosecution have any opening statements?"

"No your Honor," said the prosecuting attorney, a man who appeared to be in his early to mid thirties. He had broad shoulders, dishwater blond hair, and blue-green eyes. Even Mary had to admit that he was a very attractive man.

"Ok Mr. Peters. Does the defense have any opening statements?"

"No you Honor," Mr. Rosling said.

"All right. Prosecution, you may call your first witness."

"For it's first witness, the prosecution would like to call Mr. Wilson West to the stand."

Mary's heart immediately went to her throat as she heard his name being called. She squeezed Lucy's hand tightly and felt like she was in a fog. The only thing that she could hear was Simon mentioning something about "pleading the fifth", the meaning of which Mary was uncertain, as Wilson made his way over to where the bailiff was standing. 

He placed his hand on the Bible and Mary cringed, hoping he would not lie in front of God.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?" the bailiff rattled off like he must have done a thousand times before.

"I do."

As Wilson sat down, Mary experienced a sharp, stabbing pain in her stomach. She grabbed it quickly, attempting to breath through the pain. Lucy saw what she was doing and looked at her.

"Are you OK?"

Annie turned and looked at Mary as well. "Mary?" she asked compassionately.

"I'm fine now," she answered truthfully as the pain began to subside.

"Mr. West…" the prosecutor, Mr. Peters, started. "Is it true that you has sexual intercourse with Miss Camden on May 17, 1998?"

"Yes."

"And how old were you at the time?"

"Eighteen."

"And how old was your partner?"

"Mary was 15."

"Were you aware of her age at the time of intercourse?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what statutory rape is?"

"Now I do…before I had sort of a vague definition of it in my head."

"What did you think it was before?"

"I wasn't really all that sure. They only thing I was certain of is that it had to do with sex."

"No further questions you Honor," Mr. Peters said sitting down.

"Would the defense care to cross-examine the witness?"

"Yes your Honor," Mr. Rosling said. He walked over to Wilson and smiled. "Mr. West, were you aware that what you were doing was wrong?"

"At the time, no."

"So, tell me about your relationship with Miss Camden."

"Um, Mary and I have been dating for over a year now on and off again, at least 8 months steady now. I live in her house with her parents and brother and sisters."

"How do you feel about Mary?"

"I love her with all of my heart."

"Did your relationship change after you had sex?"

"Yes. I don't see how it would not."

"Would you say it changed for better or worse?"

"For the better. We're much closer now."

"Did you talk about having sex before you both went ahead and did it?"

"Yes, a little bit. We never really discussed what we would do if she got pregnant though."

"And what are you doing?"

"Well, I'm working and staying in school. I have a full scholarship to Crawford University. Mary is staying in school, too, but she has stopped for now because she is so far along. Mrs. Camden, Mary's mother, helped us put together a savings plan, and we're putting money aside so that we can take care of the baby when the time comes. "

"No further question your honor," Mr. Rosling said as he winked at Wilson and made his way back to his seat.

As Mary watched Wilson walk back to the defendant's chair, her stomach started to hurt again. This time, the pain was a little more intense. She grabbed her stomach quickly once more and Annie quickly noticed her daughter's frazzled state.

"Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine," Mary insisted, "really."

"For it's next witness, the prosecution calls Miss Mary Camden to the stand."

The entire Camden family, Wilson, and Mr. Rosling turned to face Mary, which didn't make her feel any better about having to testify. As she made the walk up to the stand and got sworn in, Wilson smiled widely at Mary. Her heart melted and she lost the ability to concentrate on anything going on around her. The prosecutor walked back and forth in front of her as a form of intimidation, and that caught her attention.

"Miss Camden…was Mr. West correct in saying that he was 18 and you 15 when you had intercourse?"

"Yes," she answered meekly.

"And that event resulted in an unplanned pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Were you sexually active prior to this act?"

"No."

"Did Mr. West pressure you into taking this next step in your relationship?"

"No, not at all. It was both of our decision."

"Have you had sex with him after May 17th?"

"Objection your Honor," Mr. Rosling said standing up. "That question is irrelevant."

"Sustained," said Judge O'Connell.

Mr. Peters looked disdainfully at Mr. Rosling. Just for that, the gloves were coming off. "Miss Camden, is it true that Mr. West already had a son from a previous relationship?"

Mary looked down at the floor. "Yes."

"Tell me what you know about that."

"Um, Wilson got this other woman pregnant. Then he married her, and she died giving birth to Billy. He raised him until about 7 months ago when his parents took him because they found out I was pregnant. Now they have custody over him." Mary smiled. "He was such a great father…he really likes kids."

"So you are saying that once you give birth Wilson would have fathered two children by age 18?"

Mary thought for a second before responding. This was not going like they planned. "Yes."

"Do you find that acceptable?"

Mary swallowed hard. "No."

"Does a good person in today's society father two children by age 18?"

Mary avoided eye contact with everyone as she thought up a good enough answer. The last thing she wanted to do was mess this up for Wilson. "Generally, no, but that is not the case with Wilson. He…" Mary stopped mid-sentence and grabbed her stomach once more, silenced by the pain. She closed her eyes tightly and started panting, finally giving into the notion that something could be wrong with her. "He…" Mary didn't have the strength to continue her sentence. The whole courtroom stared at her questioningly, awaiting her response.

"Please continue Miss Camden," Judge O'Connell said.

"He's…he's…" Tears started to roll down Mary's cheeks. "I'm sorry I can't, I'm in too much pain- my stomach and my back."

"How far along are you Mary?" the judge asked her.

"Seven months and a week."

"In that case, in my expert opinion as a mother of three myself, I would say that you're going into labor."

"What?!" Wilson screamed.

"Are your parents here sweetheart?"

Annie stood up. "I'm her mother your Honor."

"Good, good. I would take her to the hospital if I were you."

Mary looked up at Wilson as her stomach calmed down a little bit. He saw the look of utter terror and disbelief in her eyes, and all he wanted to do was run over to her and hold her in his arms. Annie went over to Mary and got her down from the stand, helping her walk out of the room. As Mary passed Wilson, she reached her hand out to him and briefly ran her fingers over his soft skin. They walked out of the courtroom with Lucy and Ruthie under Annie's wing after muttering a few words to Eric.

Wilson slumped back into his chair as the door closed behind the Camden women. "Seven months?" Wilson said to himself quietly. "She's early. Why is she so early?"

"Your Honor," Mr. Peters said, "with all due respect, you can't just let my witness go like that. She was crucial to my case."

"How many children have you given birth to?" she asked him.

"Well, none, but-"

"No 'buts' Mr. Peters. You are in my courtroom and we play by my rules."

Mr. Rosling stood up and approached Judge O'Connell. "Your Honor, the defense would like to ask for a recess."

Judge O'Connell pondered the request. "Normally, I would allow that, but that would just make it harder on yourself. Mr. West would just have to come back another day for what seems to be, in my opinion, an open and shut case. So, if we get through this as quickly as possible, I don't think you'll miss much."

"She was right…I am going to miss the birth of our child," Wilson thought sadly. "Great, just great."

A/N: I am restating this one more time so that there is no confusion:

I am not a lawyer or a doctor, and I based my writings on information I have picked up on the Internet from seemingly reliable sources. As I said in the previous chapter, I know nothing about anything.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

(A/N: Sorry it took so long for this chapter, but I wrote all of it but the last 3 paragraphs and then my motivation was completely gone. I even had a long weekend and I did nothing on it. I'm so bad. Anyway, I anticipate 4 to 6 more chapters in the story after this one.  
PLEASE REVIEW!!!)

Mary sat in pain inside the dreary hospital room in the maternity ward of Bay General Hospital. Ruthie and Lucy sat in chairs next to Mary as Annie scurried about between the nurses and the pay phone to try and get in contact with Eric. Mary had been at the hospital for upwards of an hour, nearly two now. Every so often, she would burst into tears about not being with Wilson, but her mother kept assuring her that her father said everything was going fine and he would be here before she knew it.

"No he won't," Mary would reply every time someone tried to comfort her. "He's going to miss it."

It wasn't about Wilson missing the birth of their child so much as it was about him not being with her. She needed his steady hand to hold and his comforting words to tide her through. She was positive she could not do this without him. She thought about refusing to give birth, and if that would have any chance of working. If she didn't want to have the baby now, maybe she could just wait a little while longer and have it when she was ready. However much she wanted to be able to do that, though, Mary was a rational person. She knew that, unfortunately, this baby was coming whether she was ready for it or not- and regardless of Wilson's location.

Mary sighed and another contraction began to overtake her, the third one since she had been there and probably the fourth or fifth all day. She panted and moaned, the pain almost becoming too much for her to handle. Lucy reached her hand out to her and Mary took it, but it was no help. She needed Wilson; otherwise the whole "hand-holding" process wouldn't work. She didn't trust Lucy enough for there to be any sort of comfort in her helping Mary through this. Mary looked at the clock on the wall as the pain subsided. 1:12. "Come on," she thought, "Where are you?" her eyes started to fill with tears as Lucy gazed at her big sister sympathetically.

"Are you all right?"

"No, I'm not."

"Can I do something for you? Get you anything?"

"No, I don't think so. I just need him here with me. I can't explain-"

Before Mary could finish her sentence, Wilson burst through the door. He laid eyes on Mary and grinned- she looked so beautiful at that moment. Mary smiled widely when she saw him. 

"I love you," she said as he walked over to her, not caring who heard her.

"I love you, too," he said picking up her hand and sitting on the bed next to her.

The whole family, including Eric and Simon, crowded around the couple and observed how much they truly cared for each other in their presence and mannerisms. Everyone smiled, along with emotional Lucy and Annie who had tears filling in their eyes. They were the only ones who were thinking about how today would forever change their lives.

"So, how's my little girl doing?" Eric asked.

"I'm OK I guess," Mary responded.

"Are you really OK?" Wilson asked her. He was able to see what her family could not- that she wasn't telling the whole truth.

"I…uh…" Mary felt too uncomfortable to continue.

"Could we have a minute alone please? If you wouldn't mind that is," Wilson asked of the Camdens.

"Of course," Annie said. 

"Come on troops, let's go," Eric stated loudly.

The family filed out and left Mary and Wilson on the bed alone. Wilson looked into her eyes and tried to read her emotions, only to find out it was near impossible. 

"So, why aren't you OK?" he finally asked her.

"It's not that I'm not OK. I mean, I guess I am…it's just that-"

"Just that what?"

"It's nothing, never mind."

"It's definitely something. Talk."

"I guess it was just my nerves- being scared about you not being here and all. I'm better now that you're with me and we're alone. I need you…I…oh," Mary drew in a sharp breath and grabbed her stomach. "Ow," she said closing her eyes tightly as the pain engulfed her still tiny frame.

Wilson panicked. "Here, take my hand."

Mary grabbed Wilson shirt in her hands, tightly clenching it in pain-stricken fists, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Hand-schmand. Wilson wrapped his arms around her as she continued to breath deeply. He rubbed her back and the sharp pain returned back to a dull ache. 

"Thank you," she said. 

He looked at her compassionately. "When was your last contraction?"

"1:12."

Wilson looked at his watch. "That was only two minutes ago," he said sounding flabbergasted. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said firmly.

He rubbed her hand. "OK, OK. I don't doubt you. But shouldn't they be farther apart?"

Mary shrugged her shoulders. "You know more about this than I do."

"Have you talked to the doctor?" he inquired. "Did you find out why the baby is early?"

"No but I can tell you in my expert opinion that it's probably not good. Anyway, let's not think about that. How'd the trial go?"

"Well, I was found innocent and that's all you need to concern yourself with."

"That's great," she said placing a kiss on his cheek. She put her head back on his shoulder. "Wilson, do you think we'll really be able to do this? Can we raise a baby?"

"I think that together we can do anything," Wilson responded warmly, "but don't worry yourself with any of that stuff. Right now all you have to do is be calm, focused, and get through this."

Mary sighed. "I know, I know."

At this time, Mary's doctor entered the room and thumbed through Mary's chart like he had an hour and a half ago. He looked up from the manila folder and looked at Wilson strangely.

"I'm the father," Wilson said.

"Oh, OK. Well, I'm Dr. Ramsden." He turned to Mary. "So, how are you doing?"

"Not too bad," she responded.

"Excuse Me, Dr. Ramsden," said Wilson, "how far apart should her contractions be?"

"Three to four minutes, why?"

"Because the last ones were barely 2 minutes apart."

"Oh?" he said curiously. He went over to the machine attached to Mary and read the output information. "Can I check you again?" Mary made a face but obliged anyway. He pulled up a stool near her feet and examined Mary, finishing by flipping off his gloves into the nearby wastebasket. "You're still only dilated about 4 ½, 5 centimeters and almost 50% effaced."

"What do I have to go up to?" Mary asked.

Wilson kissed the top of Mary's head. "Ten sweetheart."

Mary lied back on the bed frustrated. "How much longer is that going to take?"

"A long time, at least 4 hours but probably more," the doctor told her.

"Over four hours?! I can't go through another four hours of this!" she wailed.

"Is there any reason why the baby is so early?" Wilson asked.

"Well, the first baby born to a woman is usually a bit earlier than the clichéd nine months."

"Two months early?"

"Well, I'll be frank. That's kind of early."

"Is the baby going to be OK?" Mary asked quietly.

"Everything looks good, so everything will most likely be fine."

Mary nodded and looked in Wilson's direction. Although Dr. Ramsden was not a doctor of emotions, he knew that Mary was upset. 

"Well, I'll leave you be if you have everything you need," he said trying not to disturb them.

Mary nodded once more and Dr. Ramsden left. Mary went to say something to Wilson, but by the time she opened her mouth the door opened again and Annie walked in.

"Mom," Mary asked, "how much is it going to hurt?"

Annie walked over and touched her daughters face with her hand. "You'll be fine. You're body is built for this."

"Not my body," Mary commented.

"Time for a mother-daughter talk?"

Mary nodded shyly.

"I'll leave you two ladies alone to talk." Wilson squeezed Mary's hand and went toward the door.

"The rest of the family is in the waiting room," Annie told him.

Just as Wilson reached the door, Mary called out to Wilson. "What is it?" he asked concerned. "Another contraction?"

Mary didn't have to answer. When she reached out for him and clung to him like a wet t-shirt, he knew that was what was going on. Tears formed in her eyes as she buried her head in his chest. The pain was becoming even more intense and less bearable by the second. She truly felt like she was about to die. Luckily, Wilson knew exactly how to treat her. He let her hang on him and came at her beckon call. He did things at her speed and didn't make her being in pain a bigger deal than it needed to be. He knew how to comfortingly touch her and did so in all of the right places. 

The contraction ended 30 seconds later and Mary pulled back from Wilson. He looked at his watch- 1:17. He gazed into Mary's eyes, not needing to verbally ask her if she was OK. He then kissed her forehead and left without another word.

"He's amazing," Mary said out loud, completely forgetting that her mother was sitting in front of her.

"Yeah, he really is something," Annie commented.

Outside, Wilson walked into the waiting room and snuck into the chair beside Lucy, going almost completely unnoticed. 

"How is she?" 

"So far so good," Wilson told Lucy.

"I want to see her," she confessed.

"Well, you can go back in with me when your mom's done talking with her."

"Why is Mom talking to her?"

"They're having some sort of mother-daughter talk."

Lucy giggled. "About what?"

"Not quite sure. I think it's about giving birth though."

Lucy looked sad. "Maybe I could ask her for a sister to sister talk?"

"What do you want to talk about, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to talk to her before she has the baby and everything changes."

"Yeah, everything is going to change, isn't it?" Wilson said forlornly.

Lucy leaned against Wilson. "You'll be fine."

"I hope so. I'm more worried about her though."

"Aren't we all?" Simon chimed in.

Wilson attempted to smile, but he couldn't get what Lucy said out of his mind. Everything _was_ going to change. "I think I'm in need of a father-son talk."

"Talk to our Dad. I think of you as a big brother. Therefore, me Dad es su Dad."

"Thanks," Wilson said smiling, "but I don't think I'd feel comfortable talking with your Dad. At least, not like that anyways."

"Talking with me about what?" Eric asked.

"Oh, nothing," Wilson said in a quick attempt to cover.

Lucy nudged Wilson with her elbow. "Talk to him," she muttered under her breath.

"I…uh…I" Wilson muttered as Annie slipped in the door. She walked over to Wilson and put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mary needs you Wilson."

"Needs or wants?" Eric asked.

"Needs," Annie answered.

"Is she OK?" Lucy asked.

"I'm sure she's fine."

"Come on Luce, I'll take you in with me." 

Wilson stood up with Lucy and walked out of the waiting room. As they approached Mary's private room, they could hear her crying from the hallway. Wilson rushed in to find out what was going on with her.

The door opened and Mary looked up at Wilson and Lucy. When she saw him, she couldn't help but do anything besides crying harder. The pain was unbearable, she had just had a fight with her mother, and the contractions seemed to have no real beginning or ending. Needless to say, Mary was getting concerned.

"Wilson," was all she could manage to let out.

He approached her cautiously with the sole thought of needing to help her. He stood beside her bed with Lucy as Mary pulled her legs into her chest, doubling over in pain, and rolled onto her side. "She really must be in a lot of pain for her to be acting this way," he thought, "unless is she's just getting 'hormonal'."

Lucy looked at her big sister and was terrified. "I should go."

"No," Mary said, "please stay."

Lucy sat down in a chair and Wilson sat on the edge of the bed. Mary composed herself long enough to reach Wilson's ear and whisper something to him. He nodded and lied down next to Mary. She curled up against him, her skin exposed behind them from being in the hospital gown. Lucy got up and stood next to them, her arms shaking at her sides. "Please God," she asked silently, "make sure that Mary is OK. She's a great sister and a wonderful person…and I don't want to loose her." 

A nurse walked into the room- the answer to Lucy's prayers. "So, how is everything?" she asked politely as she looked in Mary's direction.

"Uh…not good," Wilson responded.

"How so?"

"She's in so much pain that she's dizzy; she feels like she's going to black out."

"Oh my," said the 30-something redhead. "Shall I get the doctor?"

"Please," Wilson responded.

Lucy looked at the both of them questioningly. Mary had barely said two words, how could Wilson have known what was wrong with her? Lucy opened her mouth to ask them but stopped herself. She really didn't want to hear another one of their mushy, puppy-love answers. _"The part in her hair is a little to the left and I know that means that at quarter past 3 on Tuesdays she likes bananas."_ "Bleh!" thought Lucy.

Wilson looked up at Lucy and grinned widely, hoping to keep her there for a few seconds longer. 

"Mare," he said tucking her hair behind her ear, "I think Lucy wanted to talk to you."

"No, that's OK, really," Lucy said quickly. "You're busy, I'll just go."

"I think I can manage a quick talk," Mary said sitting up and leaning against Wilson for support. Lucy stared back at her sister blankly. She didn't really know what she wanted to say. "Look Lucy," Mary said finally, "let me just give you some sisterly advice. Make sure you fall in love. Make sure it's true love, real love, because being in love is the greatest thing in the world. And, most importantly, if you ever have to question whether or not you love someone, I mean really question it, then you don't, because being in love isn't a state of mind or a decision you make, but more of an undying devotion you have for that person. True love can't be bought or sold or won or lost…it just stays inside of you and you always know where to find it." 

Lucy and Mary both got teary eyed. Even though Lucy often made fun of Mary and Wilson's "mushy" love for one another, inside she always had envied it. She wanted to someone to share her life with, or even a measly day or hour.

Dr. Ramsden entered the room and looked disapprovingly in the direction of Wilson. Wilson smiled sheepishly and got off the bed.

"So, what seems to be the problem?"

"I'm in a lot of pain…I feel like I'm going to pass out."

"Let me check you." The doctor examined Mary for the third time today and finished looking pleasantly surprised. "Well, I have some good news for you. You're 100% effaced and 10 centimeters dilated."

"So?" Mary said.

"You're ready to push."

Mary collapsed back on the bed. "Thank God." Lucy glared at Mary for using the name of God in vain. "What? You think this happened without some divine intervention?"

Lucy shook her head at Mary and smiled. "I'll go tell everyone."

A half hour later, Mary had just begun physically pushing. Her face scrunched up as she used all of her strength to push out the baby making its descent inside of her. Mary and Wilson were concentrating so intently on the fact that Mary was giving birth that they didn't notice anything going on around them. One of the nurses was trying to say something to Dr. Ramsden, but he kept brushing her off with a chauvinistic attitude. She would run back and forth between one of the machines and the doctor, seemingly fretting over something the doctor deemed unimportant.

"Excuse me!" she finally screamed loud enough to get everyone's attention. The whole room looked at her, even Dr. Ramsden. "Um," she finally said in a demure voice, "I thought you might like to know that the baby's heart rate has been steadily dropping."

Dr. Ramsden got up and walked over to one of the monitors and confirmed what the nurse said- the baby's heart rate was declining at an alarming rate.

"What's going on?" Wilson asked.

"Nothing," he said sitting back down near Mary's feet. "This just might be a little bit more difficult than we thought, but I'm sure everything will be fine."

A frightened Mary turned to Wilson. "It's going to be fine. The doctor said so. He said," Wilson said reassuringly. He truly believed it was all going to be all right.

**Please review!**


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**To be completely honest with all of you, I don't want to finish this story. It's taken me FOREVER to write and I am so over the whole concept. I have written about almost completely the last two chapters of the story that are posted below. Maybe one day if I get bored I will finish this story but until then all you are left with is this. I am so sorry to anyone who has been reading this through, and I feel awful for not finishing it in its entirety. **

**OK, so we were last left with the baby's heart rate dropping. Mary has to have a c-section, and the doctor continues to be a real jerk, doesn't ask for help when he needs it, and the baby ends up dying "on the table". Wilson stays with Mary at the hospital the entire time she is there and doesn't leave her side. Matt comes the next day after finding out the news and apologizes profusely to Wilson as they watch Mary sleep, and Wilson forgives Matt. Then that night, only about 30 hours after her c-section, Mary decides she doesn't want to be in the hospital anymore and she wants to go home and be in her own house. She gets Wilson to scream and yell at the hospital people and they let her out.**

Then… 

Wilson got into the driver's side of the car and started the engine. He looked at Mary out of the corner of his eye, but the only thing she was doing was sitting there. He expected her to be doing something out of the ordinary- going crazy, yelling, anything, yet she was doing nothing. That frightened him beyond words.

On the short drive home, Mary remained perfectly silent and still. Her hands were folded in her lap and her eyes stayed fixed intently outside the car, looking through the grimy windshield a foot in front of her face. Inside of her head was no different from the blankness of her outward appearance. The only things going through her mind were senseless nothings about the scenery passing her by- the color of the car in the lane next to them, why the traffic lights were taking so long to change, what day of the week it was.

They pulled into the Camden driveway, blackness engulfing the car and covering up their faces. Wilson turned off the engine, pulled out the key, and then stopped. He wasn't quite sure if he should get right out of the car or not, so he waited a while. He turned to face Mary, awaiting some sort of sign.

"What time is it?" Mary asked him while looking at her feet.

Wilson looked down at his watch, pressing the illuminating button. "Um, 12:53."

Mary didn't say anything; she just opened the door.

"Wait a second," Wilson called out to her before she got out. He ran around to the car over to her side. "Can you walk?" he asked her.

Mary grabbed Wilson's hand and held onto him for dear life as she stood upright. She closed her eyes tightly as she managed the pain she was going through.

"You OK?"

She nodded back at him and turned toward the house, refusing to let go of his hand. As Wilson fiddled with the key at the front door, she turned away from him as she continued to be uncharacteristically distant. He let them into the house and quietly closed the door behind them. He guided Mary to the steps in the darkness and paused in front of them.

"Can you walk up the stairs?"

"Yeah," she answered squeezing his hand, "just go slow with me."

He smiled at Mary and the two of them inched their way up the steps one foot at a time. After a while, they reached the summit of the staircase.

"I'll put you to bed, OK?" Wilson said.

Mary shook her head. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Uh…" Wilson wanted to say no, but he didn't want to hurt her. She's been through so much that the last thing she needed was to be pushed away.

"Please. I don't want to go back in there and be by myself. I want to be with you. I need you."

Wilson smiled at Mary and put his hand on her back. "OK, if that's what you want."

Mary almost smiled, but kept her emotions inside. Generally, she wouldn't min opening up to Wilson, but things had changed since Friday. Nothing felt the same anymore and she didn't like it, but she felt trapped. There was nothing Mary could do to change the situation she was in. She was stuck in a false reality of despair and heartache, even though she had her soul mate alongside her.

The next morning, with only a thin taupe sheet covering her, Mary rolled over onto Wilson, placing her naked skin against his. Right after she moved, she hoped that she hadn't woken him. She wasn't quite ready to talk; she hadn't decided yet how she felt about anything. It all happened too fast that there was nothing for her to do but react, and now she had to face the music she was not ready to hear.

Wilson took his hand and rubbed Mary's back. She nestled closer into him, trying to drown her sorrows in his bare chest.  He inadvertently went to rub her stomach, but stopped short, remembering everything that had happened. 

"How are you feeling?" he asked Mary as he continued to softly rub his hand all over her bare body.

"Sore and exhausted," she replied flatly.

He nodded, not knowing how else to respond to her. Mary moved once more, this time so that she was lying on her back.  Wilson moved so that he was against her, needing to feel her skin to convince himself that she was really all right and here with him. Well, maybe "all right" was going too far, but after the scary labor she went through, he was thankful she was still here on this earth for him to be able to hold.

"Do you want to talk?" he said after spending five minutes working up the courage to ask.

"No," she shot back. There was no reason for her to lie to him, she wasn't in the mood to discuss anything. All Wilson ever wanted to do was talk, and sometimes she felt he wasn't even listening. "Do you think they know I'm home?"

"That depends, what time is it?" 

Mary groaned. She knew they all were most likely awake and well aware she had come home some time last night. 

"Do you want to just get up? That way you don't have to worry about your parents screaming at us."

"If they yell I'll yell right back. I'm not in the mood to deal with their philosophies on teenage love and intimacy this morning."

"Well do you want to at least put some clothes on? You know, just in case?"

"I'm too sore to wear clothes. I don't want anything touching me right now but you."

Wilson smiled, but Mary failed to wipe the pout off her face. Wilson leaned down and kissed Mary's bare shoulder, jolting her with a sense of love throughout her entire being. Mary closed her eyes tightly, listening to the faint sound of Wilson breathing. Because so many things had gone on recently, she only had enough energy to focus on one thing at a time. Right now she reasoned that Wilson was what she should be concerned with.

Mary took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I love you. I really, really love you Wilson. I never thought that I could feel this strongly about someone or have this powerful of a connection with another person, but you changed everything. And I can't thank you enough for-"

"You don't have to thank me for anything. I'm your partner in crime, remember?"

Mary pressed her lips against Wilson's chest gently. "I never found out what happened at the trial after I left. Was it bad? Was that why no one told me?"

"No, no, no. I just forgot, that's all. You were more important than all of that."

"So?"

Before Wilson could answer Mary, there was a knock at the door. There was one knock, followed by two shortly after- the knock pattern that was used by none other than Reverend Camden.

"Just a second," Wilson said loud enough so that he could be heard through the door. He got up, put some clothes on, and thrust garments off the floor in Mary's direction so that she too would be clothed. Once she was dressed, Wilson opened the door wide enough so that he could stick his head out.

"Reverend Camden, good morning."

"'Morning Wilson. Mary wouldn't happen to be home by any chance, would she?"

"How did you know?" Wilson asked.

"Because I know you would never leave her at the hospital alone." Eric put his hand on Wilson shoulder. "You're a good man, Wilson."

"Thank you," Wilson said graciously accepting his praise.

"Now, where is my little girl?"

Mary groaned as she heard her father's words. Little girl- she was definitely nothing of the sort.

Wilson opened the door fully to reveal Mary on the bed. 

"There she is," Eric said walking over to Mary and sitting down on the bed next to her. "How are you doing Mare?" he asked placing his hands on the sides of her arms. Mary did not answer him. "Understandable. But I have something to tell you that might lift your spirits. Matt's going to stop by today. He wants to talk to you. I think he is finally going to forgive you, Mary."

Mary's jaw dropped. The last person on Earth she wanted to speak to was Matt. After how awful he had made her feel, she was perfectly happy never seeing him again. Now he was coming over _today_. Great.

"I knew you would be excited," Eric said with a grin plastered on his face. Mary just glared back at her father. "I guess I'll go then," he said sensing the hostility in the room. He stood up and looked around at Mary and Wilson.

"Good bye, Sir," Wilson said to him.

As Eric left the room, he took one final look at Mary. After noticing that Mary was wearing Wilson's clothes, he left to go find Annie.

Mary, on the other hand, was not acting as peaceful as her father was. She pulled the pillow out from behind her back and placed in front of her. She started punching it repeatedly, mumbling things that made no sense to Wilson whatsoever. 

"This is what I want to do to Matt…and my father…and my mother who was probably in on the whole thing, too."

"Why?" Wilson questioned as he cautiously walked toward her. "Why are you so upset?"

"In case you didn't hear," she said sounding snippy, "Matt is planning on stopping by today for a leisurely visit."

"And what is so awful about that?"

"Ugh!" Mary screamed loudly, punching the pillow one more time hard.

Wilson grabbed Mary's hand so she wouldn't hurt him and looked at her confused. "Why does this bother you so much?"

"First off, I don't want to see him. Second, _he_ is going to forgive _me_. Shouldn't it be the other way around?!"

"Um, I guess so," Wilson answered.

"You guess so?! I don't understand you. You should be as mad as I am."

"And why is that?"

"Because Matt acted even worse toward you than he did to me."

Wilson wrapped his arms around Mary and she leaned her head on his chest. "Calm down," he said to her lovingly. "Who knows, maybe he's changed?"

"Do you know something that I don't?" she asked him sounding hurt.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, Eric was having a serious conversation with his wife.

"Did you know that Mary's home?"

Annie's face lit up. "No, I didn't. Good for her. I knew she was strong enough to pull through this."

"Yeah, well I know how she was able to 'pull through this'," Eric said sinisterly to Annie.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you know that Mary spent the night with Wilson?"

"No, I didn't know that," Annie responded warmly, "but I am not surprised."

"Well would you be surprised if I told you that not only did they share his bed, but that she was wearing his clothes? Which means that hers most have miraculously gotten lost sometime during the night. I wonder how that could have happened."

"Oh Eric stop being such a stick in the mud," Annie said. "I am sure that they didn't do anything last night."

"I'm glad you have so much faith in them Annie because I don't," Eric said slightly raising his voice.

"In case you have forgotten, Mary had a c-section just two nights ago. It is practically physically impossible for her to have sex for at least another 2 weeks."

"Where there's a will there's a way," Eric muttered as he left his wife and walked out of the kitchen.

Back upstairs, Mary and Wilson were still fighting over Matt's little visit.

"I cannot believe you forgave him Wilson!" Mary screamed at him. She hated being this angry with him, but she couldn't help it. What he did was inexcusable. They were supposed to be in agreement on everything and now Matt was ruining all of this. Wilson put his hand on Mary's back, but she took it off of her.

"No," she said hardheartedly. "I want an explanation- I deserve an explanation from you."

"I know you do, but I don't think I'm going to give you one."

"Well why not?"

"Because, first off all what he said to me was not meant for you to hear. And secondly, I think Matt is coming over today to tell you what he told me, and I don't want to ruin it for you."

"I don't understand. Ruin what?"

"Nothing, just trust me on this one and have faith in your brother."

"He is NOT my brother!" Mary screamed at him.

"Fine. You know what, I give up. I'm going to go downstairs to have breakfast, do you want me to bring you anything?"

"No," she replied rudely.

Wilson did not say anything to Mary as he exited the room. She was being impossible to handle right now, and he figured that at the very least she needed her space. Wilson walked downstairs to kitchen, clomping down each step. He was angry with himself for being mad at Mary. He went down to find only Mrs. Camden finishing up Sunday morning's breakfast.

"Hi Wilson," Annie said when she saw him. 

"Good Morning Mrs. Camden."

"So, how is everything? We haven't talked much since Friday."

"Well, I guess it could be worse."

Annie smiled at him, but she sensed that Wilson had bigger issues than could be fixed with her motherly touch. "Would you like something to eat? I'm making eggs and toast."

"Just some toast for me," he answered. "It's been a rough morning and I don't have a very big appetite. Can I give you a hand?"

"I've got it, thanks."

Wilson nodded to Annie and smiled amiably as he took his normal seat at the kitchen table. He was being very quiet, waiting for the inevitable question about Mary's emotional and physical state.

"So, um, I heard that Mary came home with you," Annie said warmly to Wilson.

"Yeah, she did."

"How's she doing?"

"She's all right I guess, she's just not in a very good mood right now."

"Oh, why is that?"

"I don't think I should say. I don't want-"

"Ok, I understand."

As Annie finished scrambling the eggs, Lucy came down the stairs. 

"Good morning Mom," she said before she even laid eyes on her. "Wilson? I didn't know you were home."

"Hi Luce."

"Is Mary home, too?"

"Yeah, she is."

"I have to go see her," Lucy said sounding excited.

"I wouldn't do that," Wilson warned her.

"Why not?"

"Because she's kind of cranky right now. Give her a little time to get into a better mood."

Lucy nodded and took her seat opposite Wilson. "So, um, how are you doing?"

"Me? I'm fine."

"I'm glad you didn't get sent to jail or anything."

Wilson smiled. "You and me both."

As the two of them waited for breakfast to be finished, Simon and Ruthie ran down the stairs. 

"Wilson!" Ruthie said running over to him and sitting on his lap.

"Good morning Ruthie," he said as he helped her up onto his knees.

"I missed you. It was lonely yesterday morning watching cartons all by myself."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Wilson said.

"I missed you, too," said Simon. "If you were here I wouldn't have been the one stuck watching kiddy cartoons."

Wilson laughed and took Ruthie off of his lap, helping her into her seat as Annie put the food out on the table. Ruthie sat next to Simon and Simon was next to Lucy. As the four of them ate their food, Wilson could hear the whispers from the kids around the table. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but he knew they were talking about him. They got even louder, and Wilson could feel the three of them kicking each other's legs underneath the table. Simon kicked Ruthie's leg hard, and he and Lucy gave her domineering glances. 

Ruthie put down her fork and tapped Wilson on the shoulder. Wilson smiled widely and turned to Ruthie.

"Wilson, we're all really sorry about the baby," she said to him in her most grown-up sounding voice.

"Thanks you guys," he said back to all of them. "That means a lot to me."

Wilson picked at his toast, his mind focused on how he was going to handle Mary. When he came to what he thought was a dead end in his reasoning, he heard something on the stairs.

"Wilson," he heard Mary say from behind him.

Wilson got up and ran to the stairs, spying Mary standing in the corner of the landing. He walked up the stairs and stood next to her.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

"I'm sorry," she said to him. "I was being a real jerk and I shouldn't have picked a fight with you. Whatever went on between you two does not concern me, and I decided just to let go and let God."

"I'll forgive you if you forgive me," Wilson said to her. "I wasn't very nice to you, either."

"Done," Mary said. "Now that that's settled, can you help me back up to the bedroom? I don't think I can walk the stairs again."

Wilson kissed Mary's forehead lightly. "Do you want me to carry you?"

"Could you?" she asked.

"Sure." Wilson gently picked Mary up and struggled up the two flights of stairs with her in his arms.  He brought her back to the bed and lightly descended her onto the mattress. "Better?"

"Almost," Mary said. She slipped off the pair of boxers she had put on to go downstairs and threw them on the floor. "Now I'm better."

Wilson laughed at Mary. She always knew how to put a smile on his face, even when he knew she was the one who needed to be cheered up.

"There's only one thing that could make it perfect."

"What's that?"

"Will you get back in bed with me?"

"OK, but not if you're expecting to do anything," Wilson warned her.

"Do you understand how much pain I am in right now? I couldn't walk up ten steps but I am able to have sex with you?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't you trust that I'm not going to seduce you?" she asked him, curious to know what his response would be.

"No," Wilson said slyly while getting into bed, "but I do trust that you are not going to seduce me into having sex."

Mary leaned against Wilson, closing her eyes tightly in attempts to rest. "You're treading a fine line, mister," Mary said to him. She thought over his response and started to giggle with girlish banter.

"What's so funny?"

"Exactly what else would I seduce you into doing besides sex?"

"Uh…I don't know," he said.

Mary laughed again and so did Wilson.

"It's so nice to see you smile again Mare," he said tucking a stray piece of her brown locks behind her ear.

"Well, it's nice to feel like smiling again. It's been a long four days."

"Four days? I'd say it's been a long seven months."

"7 months, one week, 3 days," Mary said, her eyes getting teary.

Wilson leaned against the headboard of the bed. Mary put her head on his chest and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Wilson hated to see Mary like this, and he sighed at the thought of her being this way for a long while. All of the "what-ifs" were really starting to get him down, when Lucy knocked at the door. Wilson looked up at her, but Mary kept her back facing her sister on purpose.

"Hi Luce," Wilson said.

"Dad just wanted me to tell you that we're leaving for church now," she said sounding very uncomfortable.

"OK, have fun," Wilson said sarcastically.

Lucy gave Mary a final look and then walked out the door.

"So are you just not talking to Lucy, or are you not talking to anyone?"

"I'm not talking to anyone," Mary confirmed.

"And why is that?" Wilson asked.

"Because once I talk to them they're going to apologize or make me talk about it and I don't want to."

Wilson picks up Mary's hand and turns so that he can see her face. "Well, will you talk about it with me then?" he asked hesitantly.

Mary looks down at the bed, avoiding eye contact at all costs. "Uh, I don't know."

"Please," he begged.

"Why do you want to talk about it so bad?"

"Because it happened and it's not good not to talk about it." Mary didn't answer him, but Wilson could tell she was thinking it over. "Please Mary, I don't want to push you but-"

Mary sat up and moved herself directly in front of Wilson. "OK," she finally said sounding defeated. "You win. What about it?"

"I want to know how you are feeling because the last thing I want to do is say something to offend you."

"I feel sad and depressed and angry and scared and lost," Mary said, rattling of adjectives that meant nothing to Wilson. Those words didn't tell him anymore than he could have figured out after merely sitting next to Mary in silence.  "And I'm in so much pain right now that it's killing me to sit here like this," she continued.

"Then don't sit like that," Wilson told her.

"No, I have to sit like this. If were going to talk about this I have to be able to see your face," she said placing her hand on his knees. "So what else now?" she asked sounding quite annoyed.

"You know, we don't have to do this is you don't want to," Wilson responded trying to be as patient with Mary as he could.

"No, no I want to."

When Wilson finally thought that Mary was going to open up to her, Eric walked into the room. "You want to what Mary?"

Mary grabbed Wilson's hand quickly and looked away from her father. "Nothing," she mumbled.

"We were just talking about, um, talking," Wilson said to the reverend.

"I don't mean to be rude," Eric said sitting down on the bed and making himself comfortable, "but I hope you two weren't talking about having sex."

"We were going to have an important conversation Dad, so did you want something in particular?" Mary asked, still not ready to look her father in the eye.

"Oh, what are you talking about?"

"Our dead child," Mary said strongly without a single bit of remorse in her voice. The words hung in the air like a thick fog. You could almost see them lurching precariously above Mary's pursed lips. They all wanted to grab the dense syllables and hide them somewhere that they could never be used in that combination again. But it was too late for all of that, Mary had said it and there was no way for her to take it back.

"I just wanted to tell you that we were leaving for church," Eric responded quietly a few minutes later.

"Oh, Lucy already told us," Wilson responded.

"I know," Eric said, "but she also told me that you two were lying in bed together so I thought I better come up here. You do anything, anything at all that is not to my liking, and…and…" Eric did not know what to threaten Mary with. She hardly seemed like his little girl anymore who needed reprimanding. "…And you'll both be grounded."

Mary rolled her eyes at her father. "Bye Dad."

Eric gave them both an admonitory look before he got up and left the room.

"How are we going to get them to trust that we aren't going to have sex again?" Mary asked Wilson once her father was gone for good.

"We're not," he replied candidly. "But we are getting off topic."

"I know, I know," Mary said with a sigh. "So, ask me a question or something. Don't just thrust the topic in my face."

"Are you going to be OK?"

"I guess so, I just feel really weird; like the whole world is spinning around me and I'm standing still. And I don't want to catch up with it, and that scares me. I want to just stay here with you in this bed for forever, and that in itself probably scares me the most out of everything."

"Why?"

"Because I'm in love with you."

Wilson looked at Mary with sheer bewilderment. "I don't understand."

"Before, we had a special bond with the baby. Now that it's gone, I feel like something is missing from our relationship. I'm afraid without that bond we won't be able to keep our heads above water and we'll drown because we're so young. "

"I love you," Wilson said picking up Mary's hands, "baby or no baby."

"I know that, but I'm still afraid you'll leave me. I'm scared I'll wake up one day and you'll be gone and I'll never see you again." Mary started to get teary eyed. "At least if we had a child I knew I could get you to stick around."

Wilson tried to pull Mary in for a hug, but she wouldn't have any of that. "I'm not going anywhere. How can I prove that to you?"

Tears ran down Mary's flushed cheeks without her consent. "I don't know. But I wish everything had been all right with the baby. I was ready for it-we were prepared. But not for this." Mary started to cry and she didn't care if the whole world heard her. "I knew it died before they told me. I felt it."

"I thought they gave you novocain."

"They did, but I didn't physically feel it. It was more of an emotional thing. And that hurt," she said finally accepting Wilson's embrace, "I've never felt anything like that before."

Mary sobbed for a long time on Wilson's shoulder, giving up all of her inhibitions about having emotions that were bigger than she could deal with. With Wilson by her side she could get through anything, even the death of her child and a major surgery. Mary looked over Wilson's shoulder at the clock behind him and saw that her family would be back in a little over a half an hour. She cringed at the thought of Matt coming later. She desperately wanted some more alone time with Wilson to grieve and rest her drained body. Nonetheless, she still had that half hour, and she was going to take advantage of it. 

Mary pulled away from Wilson and kissed his lips lightly. "I'm really tired."

"Let's sleep then," he suggested. "Can you lie down without being in too much pain?"

"I think so," Mary said positioning her body against Wilson.

"Do you want me to get you an ibuprofen or something?"

Mary shook her head and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Don't leave me," Mary whispered as she started to drift off to sleep. 

Wilson leaned against Mary and they entangled their arms and legs in a neatly spun web that only they could unravel. The two of them slept for over 20 minutes before Mary gently shook Wilson awake with tears streaming down her porcelain skin, dripping off of her chin and onto Wilson shirt intermittently.

"Wilson," she whispered as she nudged his shoulder gently. His eyes opened and Mary stared into them. "Can I ask you some questions?"

Wilson rubbed his eyes. "Sure."

"Was the baby a boy or a girl?"

Wilson thought for a second, trying to recall the information. He scanned his mind, but the only thing he could remember was the nurse quickly whisking the baby away after it was pulled out of Mary's body. "I don't know Mare."

She nodded. "And what did they do with the baby? Did they bury it?" she asked, crying harder with every word that escaped her mouth.

"I don't know about that either, but I heard your dad say something about the place where your grandmother was buried, and the plots around her and stuff. Maybe it's there." Mary nodded and put her head back on top of Wilson chest. "I really don't know much more than you do," Wilson said to Mary. "I stayed with you the whole time."

"I know," she said rubbing the tears away from her eyes. "Thank you for that."

Neither Mary nor Wilson could go back to sleep, but the two of them laid together until they heard people come into the house. As soon as they heard the front door open, Wilson could feel Mary whole mood change and her body tense up in his arms. Wilson rubbed her back and told her that it was going to be okay. This time though, no matter how hard she tried, Mary couldn't seem to believe him. Too many wrongs had happened for there to ever be a right. 

Nearly a half hour later, there was a knock on the bedroom door. Mary knew what that meant- they were home and ready to try to deal with her. She dreaded having a conversation with anyone. She didn't even really want to talk to Wilson. She only did that out of sheer desperation. She loved him, and it didn't seem right to have all of these feelings boiling up inside of her without releasing some of them his way. 

She buried her head into the pillow next to Wilson's face. He rubbed his hand over her back and got up. She reached her hand out to him, hoping he would stay next to her just a second longer. Despite her actions he left her to answer the door. 

"Well, we're home," Reverend Camden said after Wilson opened the door. "Everything all right in here?" he asked poking his head into the room and looking around for a shred of suspicious evidence. To his dismay and delight he found none.

"We're OK I guess," Wilson responded.

"How are you Mary?" Eric asked. Mary groaned in response, angry at the way her father was treating her. It was like he had no sympathy whatsoever for anything she could possibly be going through. "You have a visitor Mary," Eric said jocundly.

Mary looked over at Wilson and stared threateningly at him. He rushed over to her side and sat down next to where she was laying in bed. Matt walked in from behind the door and smile wholeheartedly at his baby sister. Eric got up, patted Matt on the shoulder, and then left the room.

"Hi Mary," Matt said weakly. She didn't respond to him, so Matt sat down on the bed as well. "How are you doing Mary?" She still did not answer him, and Matt sighed loudly. "I don't blame you for not talking to me. If I were you I wouldn't say anything either. But I came to apologize to you today, and you don't have to talk for that. So please, just listen to me. I know I don't deserve it, but that's all I'm asking."

Mary looked up at Wilson, who nodded at her. Mary shook her head and leaned into Wilson, hiding her face with his arm. She refused to speak with anyone other than Wilson, especially Matt. She didn't want to have to explain anything to him or accept a phony apology from someone she could barely stand to be in the same room with.

"Anyway," Matt said sounding a little annoyed, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I acted recently. I'm sorry I left when you needed a big brother the most. But most of all, I'm sorry for blaming the both of you for my not being able to cope with the situation at hand. I could have done something and pulled the family together, but instead I left and pulled everyone even farther apart. That was not the right thing to do and I realize that now. I've already lost a niece or a nephew…I hope I didn't loose my sister, too."

Mary just stared back at Matt, determined to keep a constant expressionless stare going in his direction. Wilson rubbed her arm, trying to encourage her to at least say something, but she still kept quiet. Besides the fact that she didn't want to talk to him ever again, Mary figured this was for the best. Once she opened her mouth she could not be held accountable for the hateful words that would come pouring out of it. She resented him for leaving and could never just forgive him and forget about that. The image of him screaming in her face and pouncing at Wilson was forever burned onto her brain.

"All right," Matt said with a heavy sigh. "I'll leave you alone, I've said my piece." 

Wilson nodded at Matt and he left. Wilson pulled Mary in even tighter, but she pulled away from him. She lied down flat, removing the pillow from behind her head and placing it in Wilson's knees. Eventually, she moved her head into Wilson's lap and onto the pillow. Wilson watched her rummage about the bed as tears fell from her eyes. Wilson and Mary both felt individually hopeless, like there was no foreseeable cure for the sadness. Wilson moved Mary's head from his lap and lied down under the covers beside her. Mary wiped her eyes quickly, afraid that he would see her crying. Wilson placed his hand upon hers, stopping it from wiping her face and telling her that he felt almost as awful as she did.

"Want to sleep?" he asked. "Let's sleep."

"OK," she replied sniffling. "I'm exhausted from being up most of the night."

Mary put her head on Wilson's chest and listened to his heartbeat as she felt his warm breath come over her. He put his hand underneath the back of her shirt and caressed the smooth skin of her back. This made her feel a little better, but not much. She purposely wasn't sleeping because she was waiting for Wilson to say something to make her feel better. She wanted a profound and poetic statement to comfort her and point her in the direction of the road to emotional recovery.

"Life's not fair," Wilson said as if on queue. "Why should a gorgeous girl like you have to go through so much pain? But eventually Mare, somehow, you'll get through this and end up being even stronger than you were before. You'll be…an impenetrable force of Camden nature."

Mary smiled. Not exactly poetry, but it temporarily masked the pain. She moved her head so that she could look at Wilson's face. She stared into his eyes deeply and opened her soul to him. He peered into it and tasted the bitterness of her sorrow, and he didn't like its unsavory flavor. He looked away from her, almost as if he was cowering away, but Mary turned his face back to hers with her hand. She made him look at her because she had something to say- something that wouldn't have the same impact if he were staring at the blank attic wall. 

"I love you," she said gazing into his chocolate brown eyes that seemed so forgiving yet scared. "The only reason I open my eyes is because I know you are here with me; I draw strength from that. And no matter how many times I've been burned in the past, I trust you completely. I know you would never hurt me because you love me."

"I do love you," he said caressing her cheek. "It makes me happy that I mean this much to you."

"I'd give it all up for you, but I don't feel I'd have much to give anymore. I mean, what would anyone want that I have?"

"Me," Wilson replied with a giggle.

Mary laughed, too, but she stopped short. It felt weird for her to laugh, like it was against the rules of mourning for herself and her loss. 

"It's OK, laugh," Wilson said as if he was reading her mind. "It's OK to be happy. Happy is good."

"No," she said with tears forming in her eyes, "no it's not. Its wrong."

Wilson held her a little closer and rubbed the sides of her arms. "I have an idea. Why don't we both give ourselves some time to be sad, to grieve, and then after that time is up we stop and try to go back on with life."

"How long?"

"Today, tomorrow, and Tuesday. Then Wednesday I have 3 classes to go to."

Mary instantly got scared. "You're going to leave?"

Wilson looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "Just from 10 to 2. Then we can spend all afternoon and all night together."

"That's too soon," she announced.

"Either way, I have to go to class, so that'd be a good time for you to give it a try."

"I don't know," she said looking away from him.

Wilson kissed her cheek. "You think about it then."

Mary did just that for a few minutes. "Would I have to go back to school then, too?"

"No, but…" Wilson started counting days. She had to go back before he had winter break in two weeks, otherwise it would be harder for her to leave him alone in the house. "Maybe Monday?"

"Whoa," was all Mary could say.

"I don't have any classes on Monday, I could drive you back in and get you situated."

"I-I-I" Mary stammered continuously. She was in state of shock. She never even considered going back to school. The thought of seeing all of those people and having to catch up on pretty much the entire years worth of work to date- she didn't think she could do it.

Wilson kissed her forehead. "Shh, it's OK sweetie. I didn't mean to get you all wound up." He pulled her head down to his chest and she snuggled into him. Mary wanted to tell Wilson that she wasn't ready to leave him, but she didn't want to come off as being too dependant on him, even if that was the truth.

**Then the next day after a talk with Wilson, Matt comes with a surprise for him and Mary- a birth certificate. They had a girl. Mary is so overwhelmed with emotions that she up and forgets about how mad she was at Matt and forgives him. Everyone is happy and the story ends.**

**Then, in kind of an epilogue fashion, 7 years later, Mary and Wilson are married. They are in the Camden house for a visit, and Mary tells Wilson some surprising news- she's pregnant. Wilson is ultimately overjoyed by the news, and Mary then allows herself to be as well.**

End 


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: This is kind of a "where are they now" sort of thing. The long and short of it, I got bored, and thanks to my _fabulous_ Desktop class I reread this story, got involved in it again, and ended up with this. I hope you don't hate it.

Seven years later brought Mary and Wilson back to the Camden house, a place that held innumerable memories for them, most of them pleasant and revolving around lust. Things had changed there, though, as Mary and Wilson had. Matt was long gone; he had married three years ago. Lucy was not married, but living on her own. Simon was in college now, and to the shock of everyone who ever found out, he lived in a fraternity house. Ruthie was the only one who was left home. She was a sophomore in high school and was fairly popular, but she often felt lonely. She missed the hustle and bustle that the house had in the past.

Wilson and Mary married the summer after her senior year in high school five years ago, a week after she finally turned eighteen. They lived about an hour away from GlenOak in a more northern part of California. They were beyond happily married together and loved having a place of their own. Annie and Eric had been bugging them to visit, so they came down to spend a weekend here.

It was Sunday morning and they had to get up to go to church soon, another thing that Mary had changed about her life. She still believed in God and most of the values that were instilled in her as a child, but they didn't have the time to devote to church or the energy. They usually spent their Sundays worshipping each other. 

Mary and Lucy's old bedroom was empty, along with every other room except the attic that Ruthie had hijacked as soon as Mary and Wilson left, so they were sleeping in there. Last night, they did some décor rearranging and pushed the two twin beds together to form one big sized bed. Mary was lying against Wilson's side. He was still asleep. Mary had woken up before him feeling sick and she knew why. Whenever she felt nauseous she found herself yelling at herself, screaming inside her head to tell Wilson already and to not puke all over the place. Mary rolled over to face him and studied his face. He was sleeping so peacefully that she didn't want to ruin his morning with this sort of news. Besides, it was certainly make church even less bearable. But at any rate, she couldn't hide this from him anymore. She had to tell him because she couldn't deal with it alone.

Tears formed in Mary's eyes and she quickly wiped them away, jostling Wilson and waking him up in the process. Wilson's eyes opened slowly and he smiled at Mary. She tried to smile back but she couldn't. She was too nervous.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing…it's just…"

"Just what?"

Mary sighed heavily and tears reformed in her eyes. "I have something I have to tell you."

"OK," he said sitting up. 

Mary sat up, too, and took Wilson's hands into her. "It feels kind of ironic…and wrong really that I am doing this here, but I just can't keep hiding it any longer. I need you to help me."

"Well, um, I'm here for you Mare, and I love you."

Before Mary could say anything tears fell from her eyes without her consent. Wilson wiped them away for her and she smiled slightly. She took his hand away and held it tightly to her heart. Mary took a deep breath and forged onward. "Wilson," she began as calmly as she could, "I'm pregnant."

Wilson stared back at Mary in disbelief and awe. His lack of a reaction made Mary feel worse and she started bawling. Wilson reached out for her and held her closely. "Why are you crying? This is wonderful."

"Maybe, but I'm scared."

"I know you are, but it will be OK."

"That's what you said last time and it wasn't. Everything went wrong."

"Not everything," he reassured her.

"It's not that I don't want to have a baby, but I don't want to have to give birth again. I can't even imagine going through that again. I don't think I can. And…and last time when we got pregnant everything changed dramatically. I like the way everything is now; I don't want it all to change."

"You're right it will change, but it will be a good change. I'll make sure of it."

"What if the baby is not OK? What if I'm not OK?"

"Well cross that bridge when we get to it." He rubbed her cheek with his hand. "Did you go to the doctor?" She nodded. "How far along are you?"

"For months." His eyes widened. "I only found out two weeks ago."

"You've been hiding this from me for four weeks?" he said more out of sympathy than out of anger.

"Well, when I went to the doctor I asked if the baby was healthy and everything and he said that as far as he can tells so far everything is OK."

Wilson sensually kissed Mary's lips. "I love you, and I'm excited."

Mary kissed Wilson. "I love you, too, and I want to be excited but I'm nervous."

Wilson stared into her eyes for a little bit before smiling. "We're going to have a baby!" he said enthusiastically.

Mary smiled sheepishly as Wilson went in to kiss her passionately. His tongue slipped into her mouth as he lowered her back onto the bed and rolled himself on top of her lightly. Mary moaned into his mouth and released all of her anxiety over telling Wilson. He was ecstatic and she could tell that with a little time she could be to. All she needed to do was get into the right frame of mind, stay positive, and the rest would fall into place. And even if it didn't, she would still have Wilson. For nine years she has had Wilson with her, and they had gotten through so much that this almost seemed like nothing. They could get through this, too, and finally become parents at a proper stage in their lives. Married to the most wonderful man in the world with a baby on the way. Mary hadn't done too poorly for herself. Neither had Wilson.

Review if you like.


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